"And I know you hear their voices, Calling from above, And I know they may seem real, These signals of love, But our life's made up of choices..." ~Avenged Sevenfold (Nightmare)

My Uncle Jim died on 2/2/14. To say we "weren't close" would be the understatement of the year. I think it would be more accurate to say that I despise him. He was an asshole in this world, and if there's an after life - he'll be an asshole there.  

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I'm still reading Helter Skelter. It's a lot longer than I thought it was, but it's all very interesting. I'm very interested to see how the trial goes because Manson is making it impossible to get anywhere. That sounds really dumb but when you read about how he controls the Family it all makes sense. 

Besides the legal stuff, I think I'm starting to get to the explanation of Helter Skelter and what Charles and the Family thought it meant. That's what interests me - the psychology behind it all. What did Helter Skelter actually mean in regards to Manson and the Family?

That reminds me - I've been sort of paying attention to the Amanda Knox case. I'm surprised that they found her guilty again. I don't really think she did it, but I've read others saying that they think she was there, but doesn't remember what happened or was out of it, or is lying because she and her boyfriend were doing drugs and she didn't want to get in trouble. From what I've read, it's pretty clear who did it, and I'm surprised that the Italian government shortened his sentence. 

I do feel bad for the family of Meredith Kercher because they deserve closure, and they deserve answers, but I feel like they're going after Amanda for the closure not because she's guilty. I can't judge though, because I have no idea how I'd act / react in their situation. I think it's sad the whole way around, and I'm interested to see if the United States will extradite Amanda to Italy. (Amanda has made it clear that she'll run if they try to extradite her, so I doubt that they'll actually get her to Italy. It also sounds like there will be another lengthy appeal, so it could take awhile to see the outcome.)

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I bought a bunch of books lately. I recently downloaded Nikola Tesla: Imagination and the Man That Invented the 20th Century (it is a free book). I also bought Prip'Yat: The Beast of Chernobyl (a fiction about Chernobyl), Lost in Shangra-La (about a WWII plane that goes down in a cannibalistic area), Pen Pal (a short story that I found through Reddit), Dead Mountain: The Untold Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident (mysterious death of 9 hikers), Five Days in November (about the days after JFK's assassination), Twelve Years a Slave (about Solomon Northup's time as a slave), Breakfast At Tiffany's (book the movie is based on) and Carved in Bone (fiction based around the Body Farm). There are a TON more books that I'd like to buy, but I'm trying to be responsible with my money. _smirk_

I really want to read a lot this year, so I wanted to buy books that sounded interesting, and I guess 2014 is a year for the morbid and unexplained! If I add up all the books I want to read from my resolution list I come up with 17 (that doesn't include re-reading The Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games series or The Phantom Tollbooth). (30 books total with all of those added.) I've read 3 books so far this year. I'm a little unsure that I'll read the John Lennon book I have because it's pretty thick, but I won't rule it out completely. Who knows when I'll want to dive into John Lennon's life. _smirk_ 

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I've had a bunch of crazy stuff going on lately. I had my two front teeth crowned a few months back, and have been fighting my insurance since. They say that _one_ of the crowns wasn't "medically necessary" but it was on a tooth that had a root canal probably 10 years before. My dentist (whom I _ADORE_) said that I needed to get the crown ASAP because my tooth could break at any time. I decided to have them both done at once, even though, at that time, the right front one didn't need it, so they'd "match" and look natural. Well, it turned out that my right front tooth _did_ need a crown, because when he started drilling to make the crown he found that I needed a root canal. Now my insurance says they won't pay for the tooth with the 10 year old root canal. My dentist appealed it, and now it's going to the Health Advocacy Unit in my state. FUN TIMES! Why can't things ever be easy?

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 Mail Call:   

Pen Pals:  
(2014 count : 0 sent)

  Letter sent to : - //

Letter in progress : - //
Letters remaining : 16 - OMK - New York (10/30/13), FJ - Germany (11/1/13), CB - Montana (11/2/13), MN - Czech Republic (11/12/13), TR - Arizona (11/12/13), SB - South Africa (11/21/13 & 12/5/13), NH - South Korea (11/22/13), KL - Florida (11/23/13), SR - Italy (12/4/13), PG - France (12/16/13), RF - Scotland (12/26/13), MM - Belgium (12/30/13), SA - Croatia (1/4/14), HM - Germany (1/6/14), PN - Sweden (1/13/14), HH - South Dakota (1/25/14) //
Letter received from : WC - Hong Kong (2/3/14), WC - Scotland (2/3/14), GJ - New Zealand (2/3/14), CJ - Isle of Man (2/5/14), JM - Michigan (2/8/14) //
 First letter sent to :  PP - Las Vegas (2/4/14), LPS - Arlington, TX (2/4/14) //
Card sent to : - // 
Misc. received : - // 
HB Notebook received : - //
HB Notebook sent : - // 

Postcrossing :
(2014 count : 10 sent) 

Sent : -  // 

Received : US-2617309 - United States (2/1/14), FI-1998361 - Finland (2/3/14); traveled 6,950km //
Delivered : US-2586083 - Moskva, Russia (2/5/14); traveled 7,810km, US-2586081 - Moscow, (2/5/14) Russia; traveled 7,810km // 
Direct Swap Sent : - // 

Direct Swap Received : - //
Direct Swap Delivered: - //

Autograph request sent: - //

(2014 count : 0 sent)

Adopt A Soldier Letter sent: - // 

(2014 count : 0 sent)

  Love Letters sent: - //

(2014 count : 0 sent)

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Currently Reading: Helter Skelter - Vincent Bugliosi Curt Gentry - Started 1/19/14

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**For the sake of full disclosure - the links to Helter Skelter, Nikola Tesla: Imagination and the Man That Invented the 20th Century, Prip'Yat: The Beast of Chernobyl, Lost in Shangra-La, Pen Pal, Dead Mountain: The Untold Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident, Five Days in November, Twelve Years a Slave, Breakfast At Tiffany's, Carved in Bone go to Amazon. I DO NOT make any money off of that link. **