07-01-03 @ 7:13 pm EDT

I think I'm sufficiently awake now...

And I don't have much to say. >:/

Well, I finally finished Part 16 and posted it...yesterday, I think. P. has already stopped by to R&R it. In case he's reading this, his suggestion is VERY close to what's going to happen in the next part...just gave something away there. ^_^

ID: 702435 (Rated: PG-13)
Title: Part 16: Fallen Arches
Description: Charmian goes in search of the Fairy Arch, but doesn't find what she expected...
By: Tehuti, Lord Of The Eight

I also started a new journal item for the crap that isn't quite fit to post as separate items. I am quite puzzled because somebody sent a positive review of it, but...nothing but the first, introductory entry had been read, according to the stats. I won't complain about the review but I'm not sure how someone can tell me I write well when they didn't read the actual writing...I guess maybe they counted the introduction as a sample of my writing? I don't know, I'm confused. /:(

ID: 712729 (Rated: PG-13)
Title: False Starts & Premature Endings
Description: Unfinished and early fiction which never quite made it off the back burner.
By: Tehuti, Lord Of The Eight

AND, revision has started on Part 8 of the Chronicles. I sense it won't be quite as long as the rest, but that's probably for the best. Ugh, I hate unintentional rhymes.

I ate in my sleep today. :( Why can't I control myself from doing that? I'm conscious enough to tell myself I'll be angry when I wake up, but I do it anyway. Why can't I control it?

*sigh*

Ah, I think I just came up with a subject for this entry. I'm currently annoyed and angry about what I've read about them having to shut down lots of national historic sites because of budget cuts. I'm willing to bet there are lots of OTHER places they could get the money they need but of course it is the arts and historic things that get the short end of the stick, AS ALWAYS. Take a look for example at our fuel shortages. Normal consumers are urged, repeatedly, to carpool to save on gas and such. Meanwhile here we have Nascar and such where a bunch of guys in cars do LAPS for HOURS on end! Am I the only one who sees the stupidity of this? Just because it's a SPORT it's okay to waste huge amounts of fuel just to watch some guys zoom cars AROUND and AROUND and AROUND. And the poor people who have to actually get to work to FEED THEIR FAMILIES are the ones who are told to save on gas and cut back their usage! Think of how much fuel would be saved if we just cut back on car racing so they lapped for only about fifteen minutes or so. What the hell is the point of watching cars go around and around and around and AROUND for hours on end? Go watch BASEBALL if you want to watch something boring for several hours. At least they don't need to use any gas when they pitch.

But anyway, I think I read that Illinois shut down all their historic sites except Lincoln's birthplace. This makes me feel sick. Will the Alamo be next? At the moment I'm glad that Mackinac Island is a state park and not a national one, but when will THOSE be affected? I feel very sorry for the people who make their livelihood on the tourist industry--those people who run stores and such that cater to the tourists who visit said sites. They are so seriously screwed because of this. I live in a high-tourist area and I've always just taken it for granted; we aren't really affected here, as like I said Mackinac is state run, but now I can sense how it must feel. There's some poor guy who makes his entire living out at Aloha State Park, not too far from where I live, and because some IDIOTS underestimated how long it would take them to fix the park up, he has had no business for ages. Hence he's not making any money! He's not subsidized (sic?--right word?--I'm just going on memory of what Dad told me, I have no understanding of subidization er whatever) like the farmers and CHERRY GROWERS are so he's screwed, too. CHERRY GROWERS! Every year we get to listen to the farmers and cherry growers and such on TV whine and moan about how badly the weather has affected them...get over it! It happens EVERY YEAR--why does it always make the news? They're protected in case of that anyway. Not so the little guy out at Aloha. I feel awful for him, and for all these other people who make money off the tourists.

People actually showed up at national monuments on Memorial Day with guidebooks in hand only to find the places CLOSED! I can imagine how pissed off *I* would be.

All of this happening just as soon as I decide I would like to visit more sites here in Michigan--namely the Hiawatha National Forest, and maybe Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Both national sites; will they be affected? They're not historic, but at least the second one is very popular. And though we can't afford it now, I really wanted to go back to Tennessee and Georgia to view the Chickamauga Battlefield and what have you. This pisses me off. REALLY great timing. I realize you can't run something with money that just isn't there, but I sense a big government snafu here. I am about CERTAIN they could have gotten the money somewhere else if they hadn't messed up or overspent on something trivial. Dad told me about how a while back the government PAID certain businesses and such to clean themselves up, even if they did not NEED the money. The UAW, where he works, was one such place offered fix-up money they did not even need! How many businesses and such TOOK the money they didn't need, just for the hell of it? And now there is no farking money to pay for the upkeep of historic sites! What is the sense and point to all of this??

Cutting back on the tourism industry might seem like a good way to save money NOW, but think of how much they'll be hurting as soon as they lose that tourist industry! No tourists = no tourists' money. And tourists have LOTS of money. Money which these sites will no longer get. See the reasoning here? Great move, guys!

I'm sorry, but it just disappoints me so much. Too bad sports aren't supported by the government, then I'd suggest cutting THEM. When I was in school it was always the arts programs that were getting screwed over in favor of SPORTS programs. I remember sitting in class with my history teacher (who ironically was also a coach), and whenever there were hunting or sports-related things calling the students out of class, he had no complaint, but if it was an arts-related thing or a math competition, oh, WHINE WHINE WHINE! Nice double standard. I count history as being much closer to the arts than to sports--it's a humanity, at least--and of course, here you see again, short end of the stick. As always.

Although American history has never really been my favorite, it's only been lately that I've begun to appreciate it a bit more--for example Native studies of my region--and to see it being plowed under like this...ugh, I can't even state how pissed off I am. This is incredibly unfair.

Well, I have to end this before I find more to babble about. At least you got a coherent entry this time. Back later...tar.