I like change, but not when it comes to FB.

I am an avid user of Facebook. In fact, Facebook is currently the only social networking site I use. I previously had Friendster, HI5, myspace, Yuwie, and a few others. I ended up canceling all of them, and staying loyal to Facebook.

All that may change if the founder of Facebook does not revert back to the original layout. I am having a difficult time figuring out where everything is, where my photo album is, and where my wall comments are.

The only thing I know how to do is change my status.

There HAS to be a way to revert back to the old layout, I'm not feeling this one!

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Hiking in a cemetery.

Hiking in a cemetery.

When I was younger, the thought of sleeping by myself used to scare the living daylights out of me. Even at the age of 11, I hated lying in bed with the lights off. I always had to have my closet lights open. Everything changed when I met my boyfriend.

Paul loves horror movies, and he got me to love them too. Currently, the only types of movies that will keep me awake are horror movies. This obsession with horror movies has lead to my fascination with cemeteries. The more history there is behind it, the more intrigued I’m with it. My boyfriend lives in a small town, Tower Hill, and I usually drive through by a lot of cemeteries. There is one cemetery which I’ve visited a few times, and there is another one that is said to have high paranormal activity in, which I am just dying to visit.

Ridge Cemetery, which was formerly a part of Williamsburg Hill is known for the possible ghostly activity. An indication is given by a very active microwave tower upon the hill. The town itself, Williamsburg Hill was a bustling town for about 40 years. The town had its own dentists, Barbour, saloon, etc. The town eventually became a ghost town, and was finally destroyed in the 60’s. I believe that Ridge Cemetery is the only main part of Williamsburg that still stands today.

I’ve visited the cemetery twice during the day, and would like to go see it during nights. There have been many occurrences where people have seen ghostly figures, spirits sobbing, and even occurrences on a daily basis. People that have lived near the cemetery have observed numerous strange things that have happened. When you drive to the cemetery, there is a winding uphill road that you must drive on. After you past the first few houses, you’re surrounded by forest. The gate to the cemetery is open. It is said that one of the trees in the cemeteries was used to lynch people on.



The cemetery I would like to visit is Cemetery X. The reason it is called Cemetery X is to protect the real name of the graveyard. Due to extremely high paranormal activity reported by ghost hunters, the cemetery is given a false name. I know that people still do get buried there, and the cemetery is about 20-30 miles away from Tower Hill, IL.

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Calling all experienced bloggers!

This newbee needs your help. I feel as if the right side of my blog is becoming a bit too cluttered. I want to make use of the left side of my blog. I figured there is no point putting black space to waste. However, I am so worried about losing everything, that I do not want to go through it again.

Does anyone know how to put widgets on both sides of a blog?

Sorry if this may seem a little stupid to ask. :S

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Getting screwed by a medicore landlord

Two days ago, in the mail, I received a check for$91.84 cents in the mail. Looking at the address of this check, I was outraged. HOW DARE THEY!

Paying 470 for a security deposit at a worn down complex and then getting back less than a hundred dollars was more than I could handle. The management that works for the landlord wanted to give me back 369 dollars, which isn't that bad. However, this pompous ass (excuse the language) thought it would be just dandy to charge me all sorts of fees to fix crap that he refused to fix when I called a dozen times while living there.

I had stove drip pans that were in a miserable, worn-out condition. I called my rental management, and they told me that the owner was responsible for replacing them. O.k. fine. So I try to get a hold of the owner, and I can't even reach him. Nope... he manages a building, but is hardly at HIS building. He does not give his tenants any sort of indication of how to reach him, or what to do if a fire broke out in the building. So back to the drip pans... I eventually found out from the rental management that the owner did not want to pay for it, that I would have to. Well screw that! Why should I pay for drip pans, I paid 470 dollars with the expectation that I would not have to buy my own drip pans! I lived a whole year using that filthy stove, with the crusted/rusty drip pans, and even tried cleaning it several times. I never thought the owner would have the audacity to charge me money to replace those burners.

I even got charged for replaced batteries in a smoke detector battery. The battery was not even removed from the device, and 3.75 is a little bit too much to pay for smoke detector batteries.

I could go on and on of how much this owner has tried to rip off his tenants. Why my management agreed to do business with this loser, i will never understand. All I know is I'm not taking this sitting down. I've already complained to legal services (and this guy has had a LOAD of problems with our campus legal services).

I should have received the 369 that the rental management agreed to, so I have no grudges against them. The owner on the other hand, needs to get a job that is a bit more fitting for him... maybe a used cars salesman would be a bit more in his niche?

So I guess I'll ask you readers a question: Have you ever been ripped off by someone? It does not have to be your landlord who did it, it could be your work, your best friend, or even some blogger who promised you would make all sorts of cash. Who ripped you off? And how did you handle it?

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If I only had a billion of me and all the time in the world.

For those that have dropped their card on my blog, thank you for taking the time to drop. Like all bloggers, it means a great deal when other people view my page.

Ever since I joined Entrecard, I've been getting many drops, which I love so much because I get a chance to read a variety of blogs. Its amazing to see the various topics that are bloggable. I try so hard to visit every blog that drops a card on my site, I really do. Sometimes I wish there were a billion of me and all the time in the world, then I would be able to visit blogs all day.

Sadly, this is fantasy, and there is a thing called reality. However, I saw a blogger who made this fantasy a reality. She enabled a widget on her blog which enabled her to generate 300 drops a day.

I really don't agree with this because the dropper is dropping in terms of quantity instead of actually looking at the content of the blog.

Although it is tempting to use to increase my credits, I'd rather drop manually. What can I say, I like to do things the good old fashioned way.

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Journey to blogging for traffic

For the past month or so, I have become really intrigued with blogging for traffic. Although I enjoy writing, I discovered there is a lot more than good content to increase visitors to your site. With all the information and tips given from countless blogs and web sites, it is hard to see what works and what doesn't work in terms of traffic. Although I am fairly new to this, I have discovered a few important things when optimizing traffic.

• Update your blog daily. Nobody likes a stagnant blog
• Make friends with blog users in your niche. Establish a relationship with them, and exchange links
• Write articles and link them to your blog
• Explore other blogs. Do not spam your link on every blog, instead, leave a genuine comment and your link.
  
• Get Entrecard and start dropping.
  
• Include tags in each post (I need to work on this) Use keywords that highlight the content of the blog
• Keep an open and creative mind

I am still on this journey for blogging for traffic. In the meantime, I will do what I do best, and that is writing.

Bloggers if you have any tips, or blogs related to this topic, send a comment. If I post it on this post, you will have your link posted.

Update:

I found a blog which I do enjoy reading, and it provides realistic tips on writing for money. We all want to earn money with our words, but are we really doing it right? Whether its writing for a blog, writing for a book, or anything, visit Are you writing for money?

I found this site to be helpful, especially because I'm experiencing all sorts of writer's block. For now, I am just writing for the passion, not for the money. Sure, I want money, who doesn't. It's like saying "Hi, I don't like free money"

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Another poem from back in the day

Yelling

I yelled at my mom
Cuz she said I wasn't serouis
I yelled at my sister
Cuz she wrote on my homework
I yelled at my brother
Cuz he drove his remote control car
Right into my foot!
I yelled at the weatherman
Cuz he said it would snow
I yelled at my friend
Cuz she wasn't being honest
I yelled at my self
Cuz I yelled at everyone else

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A poem from back in the day.

Excuses

I'm mad at my friends
for being better than me
I'm mad at my parents
for not giving me everything i wanted
I'm mad at school
because I didnt get any smarter
and now im mad at myself
because I could have worked harder

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Trying to find religion/culture

"Mom, why do we have to worship a thousand gods?"
"Beta, we don't have that many gods, they are just deities of Bhagvan."
"oh"

This conversation was typical every Sunday, when my parents would force me to go to Swadhiya school. Swadhiya, is basically the Indian version of Sunday school. I hated going because it meant getting up early, sitting for an hour and reciting prayers and discussing the significance of those prayers. I spent my years in high school trying to avoid my culture and religion. While my mom was adamant about me not forgetting my roots, I was determined on becoming uprooted and becoming my own person, whoever that was. I didn't like Indian food, (probably because my mom cooked it everyday) and all I wanted was a good old fashioned hamburger. I disliked going to Indian social parties, and I couldn't sit through an hour of Sunday School.

Currently, I regret my avoidance of my culture. During my freshman year of college, I published a three page auto-biography narrative which was published in our university's English test. The essay outlined my struggle living as an Indian and American. In high school, I was trying to be "American" while my parents tried to instill "Indian" values. The essay then went on to explain how I arrived in college and how I did not know who I was. Am I Indian, or am I American? I gave the essay a happy ending: I found both cultures, and I learned to hold onto my culture AND be American.

Oh, how I wish that happened. Sadly, I feel even more distanced from my culture than ever. With stress from living on my own, my financial aid from college falling through, my difficulty in finding a job, no car, and no social life, I feel as if I need culture/religion more than ever in my life.

I feel as if I need to establish some sort of an identity, because without it, I don't see what my purpose is.

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Avoiding an unforgiving toothache.

I have a very bad tendency of avoiding health related issues, especially when it concerns me. I haven't been to a doctor in over a year, mainly because of no health insurance. I'm not attending school currently, so I am unable to get insurance from the university. While I could pay a pretty low fee for coverage, I'm already struggling just to juggle my payments with whatever little I have, all while looking for work.

Anyway, I've been avoiding getting my tooth checked until I can find a free clinic or something that can do a free check up. I could not find any free dental clinics in my town. With no car, it is sort of difficult to travel out of the city. (I've gotten where I needed to go by walking or taking university transportation)

So basically, I've been avoiding getting my tooth checked. I've been using extra products just to control the ache, but nothing seems to work. My boyfriend loves scaring me whenever I complain about it, but this time when he did, I knew he wasn't joking.

"You know if you don't get that checked, they're going to pull your teeth out."


So I guess, I have a question for readers, and it may be a stupid one: How can someone who has no health coverage (including dental) get a toothache checked out?

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