HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Click here to be whisked away to Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty Web site.

GREAT, FANTASTIC NEWS! The missing birth certificate blues have been replaced with GOT MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE AND GOT A TICKET ON A CRUISE HEADING OUT SUNDAY FOR BERMUDA happiness!!!!!

Yes, I am actually VACATIONING! I am leaving the area! My days of yokel-ness are OVER, BABY! I’m heading out to play!

YAHHOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo!

A Butler Township man will face eight charges, including vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol, in Luzerne County Court for his role in a fatal accident April 24.

District Judge Daniel O’Donnell on Wednesday bound over the charges against Kevin Prussock, 25, who was allegedly drunk when his vehicle crashed into another driven by Joseph Gigliotti, who died at the scene.

Gigliotti’s family and friends stood outside O’Donnell’s Sugarloaf Township courtroom in a rally against drunk driving, as they had at Prussock’s arraignment in May.

Prussock’s vehicle crossed the double yellow line on East Butler Drive in Butler Township just outside Freeland, forcing one oncoming, eastbound car to swerve off the road and striking Gigliotti’s car nearly head-on near Terrace Road, according to the criminal complaint. Police said Prussock’s blood-alcohol level was .181 percent – more than twice the legal limit – at the time of the early-afternoon crash.

Can I tell you how tired I am? I am tired. Walking all over the city and then doing the orchestra at night has made Donna a tired girl. So tired I am actually typing this entry with my eyes closd. Yes, I am leaning back, eyes closed, and typing. Good thing I know where the keys on the keyboard are located.

Must dry hair. Must go to work and get in early. Must eat something. So much to do!

I ran around all day today. I went to the office of Vital Records and requested an updated Birth Certificate. It should be ready by tomorrow. After that I went to the Philadelphia Passport Agency that is located in the United States Custom House. I attempted to renew my passport. It didn’t work. I was directed to a slow moving line. Once I got up to the window, the woman gave me a number and instructed me to wait until my number was called and then I could submit my paperwork. So I sat in this crowded, stinky room. My number was 128. I looked up to where the number tally was being kept and it read 99.
“Oh good, only 29 ahead of me, four windows open, I’ll be up there in no time!” I thought. Ha! A half hour later the counter ticked to 100. Fifteen minutes later it showed 101. A half hour after that… 102. I couldn’t stand it. I got up and left. The day would end before I was called to the window.

After work I went to the Mann Music Center. The Philadelphia Orchestra was playing Mozart and I do enjoy sitting in the grass and listening to the music and people watching. It’s amazing how many people in attendance have bags with the PBS logo on them. They support the arts, I guess.

On the ride home I decided that it was silly of me to make myself crazy trying to fit a vacation into a time slot. Instead of forcing the whole situation, I would just move my vacation to the next week. Besides, I’ve been breaking down in tears and feeling great waves of sadness, hopelessness and despair. I realize that next week is not a week I want to be sitting on the beach. It’s better for me to make sure I am somewhere that I can wear sweat pants, eat chocolate, and watch Romantic Comedies on tv. The thing is, next week is just the best time work-wise for me to take a break. I am coming off one heck of a month AND I typically don’t close any business the week after Independence Day anyway. Plus, Lisa and I are taking off for a little trip in August and by vacationing in early July, that gives me more time between trips. Oh well. That’s life. God seems to want me around home next week. Let me just embrace that and change my plans. It’s the right thing. All will be fine.

I decided to try to escape the country. At least for just a few days. I work hard and I have a week of vacation coming up. It just makes sense to do something nice and atypical. My passport is expired but a cruise to Bermuda only requires a birth certificate. Easy, right? Wrong. My birth certificate is lost. GONE! Vanished. I wanted to leave on Saturday/Sunday. Today I am going to try my best to somehow either quickly renew my passport without any travel confirmation or replace my birth certificate. Hopefully something will work. I need to escape and nothing seems to be going my way. I think I understand why Last Minute deals are so cheap. No one can go anywhere at a drop of a hat.

Yesterday evening, after a fruitless search of my parents’ house and the donnavilla, I broke down in tears. I am not proud. A woman my age crying over a lost birth certificate! It just seems I can’t catch a break. It’s my own fault. I should have figured this out sooner. Should have got my ducks in a row back weeks ago. But I didn’t know weeks ago that I would take a vacation. I didn’t know I would have such a June that I would need to take a few days off. Obviously I am not a boy scout. I wasn’t prepared.

On Saturday I hopped into my car and drove to Maryland. I chartered a sailboat and took a two hour cruise on the Chesapeake Bay. It was very nice. The captain looked like a real sea dog. He wore a Hawaiian shirt, had a long white beard and incessantly played Jimmy Buffet music. The boat was called The Crab Imperial, which I thought was pretty funny.

I need to do things like this more often despite the rising gasoline costs. Even though it was just a regular weekend, it somehow felt like a mini-vacation because I got away.

I guess it was putting together those images for the mosaic in my previous post that prompted it. Last night I dreamed I was back in track– back in the discus circle– and flinging that damn discus as far as I could! I started at the back of the circle and I performed an absolutely perfect spin. The discus left my hand as my feet were off the ground, dangling in mid air! I watched it fly through the air like a ufo. It landed on a house’s roof and bounced off. All those great emotions I used to feel were there, rushing back to me. It was a great dream. Maybe tomorrow I can dream about my love of shot put. The wet ground, the cold, muddy shot pressed against my neck… heaving that bitch as far as I could! OH GOD I LOVED THROWING!

I so rarely do this type of thing but I saw it at Dustbury (he swiped it from here)and I quite liked it enough to give it a go.

How it’s done:

1. Surf over to Flickr (set up an account if you don’t have one — it’s quick and easy) and type your answers (one at a time) into the search bar.
2. From the choice of pictures shown only on the front page, click on the one that moves you. Once the page with your picture opens, copy the URL.
3. Surf over to the Mosaic Maker, set up your mosaic, and paste your URLs.
   Click “Create!”

Here are the questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. Where would you go on your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. Choose one word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name?

This is what I got:

Here are my answers and photo credits:
1. Donna – Canadian Music Week – The Donnas, 2. Pizza – Posina fora a pizza box!, 3. Pennsbury High School – You could run a mile in these shoes, 4. Red – The Photographer, 5. Don Amici – [ L ‘ a t t e s a / L ‘ a m o r e ] VI, 6. Beer – pentacon six tl wannabe edward hopper edward olive, 7. Greece – Monastery of the Holy Trinity, 8. Ice cream – Sunset Wine3　　ice cream float:), 9. Emma Peel – In a corner, 10. ..and then the bridesmaid just took off.., 11. Kind – Entering Hyperspace, 12. Hello.Donna – Hello World