To set the stage, if I were limited to only shopping at three places for the rest of my life, I would have to survive on my wits and possibly the charity of others. People that really know me, know that Im a little paticular about a couple of trivial things in my life. First off, I have animals. Well, more correctly, I have pets and livestock. Secondly, I have a thing for socks. Ok, I hear whispering from the back of the room. No,I dont have a fetish for silk or fish net stockings. (well, not that Im aware of anyway, maybe I havent met the right woman...) Along that line, Im sure as heck not wearing them myself. When I say socks, I mean mens Gold Toe socks. Socks that you can wear more than three times before they meet their maker. Any way, they feel good and are cushy. Please scratch the cushy comment. Some statements like that may get my Man Card revoked.

I hate the Fourth of July.
It was the summer of 2014, I was 18 years old and had just graduated high school. The last thing I wanted to do was spend the summer at the marina with my family, but I was forced to go. Both of my parents had a well-paying job, so my family had a summer lake house. It was fun when I was a child, but now, spending that much time with my family is just too much. Little did I know, however, that that summer would be forever burned into my brain.
That summer I met the love of my life.

In the final cinematic scene between the two eternal archenemies, Robert Downing Jr’s Sherlock Holmes engaged the nefarious James Moriarty (played by Jared Harris) in a climactic battle of logic and theory, hypothetically testing each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and every factor that made them who they were. In this battle, the opponents took everything they knew about each other and challenged it, exploiting known emotional feelings, logic and theoretical actions, past behavior and components, and the very variables that made up their reason, deconstructing the other into the logical empirics that made them who they were and attempting to destroy it. Ever since I saw that scene, I was able to properly depict what my mind did on a daily basis, weighing the social rewards and consequences of my own actions while analyzing the crowd, my relationship to each individual, and trying to find the empirical logic that made each person tick.

We used to joke and keep points. We noticed that when we spotted one, most had the left headlight out, and fewer cars had the right headlight out, so lefties were worth only one point and righties were worth five. We kept a running total, we did, from one outing to the next. If we forgot, or thought the other had cheated, we would just start over.

Along with that little game, after a short time, we had come to a realization. Well, more like we were making up a story, you know, to give the game a little more history… that maybe the cars or trucks, or what-have-you, that lost the left headlight were like drones or pawns, the lower ranks... The ones sans the right headlight, we so studiously determined, were the leaders or generals that held command or domain over the lefties. We thought it was a grand little idea behind our game, and once in a while we added to it, making even more depth to the mythos of one-headlighted cars.

Colors of beauty once bright, now fading

slowly draining never gaining

always to fall into the darkness.


Sounds of life once sharp and clear

now muffled by the shadows of uncertainty

never ringing true the joy

now lost.

The gravel crunched under her feet as she inched down the old driveway towards the ancient house. The hair on her neck stood to attention as she looked up at the blackened windows and soiled stairs that led to the front door. The house had once been a majestic display of gothic architecture that overlooked the fishing town below keeping it safe under the gaze of the owners but now all this was gone. What stood in its place was an old and decrepit building that struck fear into the hearts of the teenagers who dared to venture past the property line to prove themselves to their peers.

Today he found an envelope of pictures he’d not seen before. He didn’t notice them in the past because they were tucked under a slat of the old family trunk. The photos were of his mother, in dated acid wash jeans and sky high hair. While the fashion was alien to him, that wasn’t the strangest accessory to these photos. In all these pictures of his mother she was holding a baby he could not place from all the other albums.

"Meteor storm, bearing 70 mark 36 mark 23. Approaching fast," George's voice echoed in Pete's headset.

Pete swore. "On two!" he shouted, pulling up the indicated screen. A quick glance showed that the storm could neither be avoided nor outrun.

Pete placed a finger on the screen. "Turn ship to indicated bearing. Full thrust," he ordered.

"Into the storm?" Leta questioned, but she was already turning the ship as ordered.

"We're going to minimize our profile," Pete bit off in cryptic explanation.

"Fuel down to 12 percent," Janet reported.

Okay, now we roll the dice, Pete thought. "Leta, put our projected course on screen two, Eric, secure the ship for possible collision."

I really liked the last newsletter about all the 'facts' we believe in that aren't really true. I especially liked myth #5. I know that vaccines can have negative side effects but not autism. Most people with Autistic Spectrum 'Disabilities' are born that way. They just don't often show the symptoms until later, around when children receive their vaccinations. I know this because my little brother has autism and I could possibly have Asperger's syndrome so I've done a lot of research on the topic.

Wow, I got really excited when I saw my story in a newsletter. I'm glad somebody likes what I'm writing, thank you! :)

Of course, there are times one needs help maintaining a Membership. Thankfully, there's a few places that help out - or you can host an activity where part of the funds goes towards your Membership, and part of it goes towards helpful groups - win-win for everyone.

Wonderful NL, Brooke. Very helpful.
So many newbies become confused when they first hear about gift points. Your likening them to virtual tokens and the detailed descriptions of what can be done with them are priceless.

Wonderful topic for a newbie newsletter! I did find it a little strange that "Newbie Welcome Wagon"  was not one of the related links. New people often find it less intimidating to review other newbies. At least, I have found that to be true. Reviewing fellow newbies and getting extra gift points for it? That's altogether awesome!