The Spam Thread!

[Stella Grapes]

I don't own all the American Girl dolls, but I do own all the historical books. I don't have the Kit doll. James bought me the Ruthie doll when we saw the movie, because he knew I liked her better than Kit herself in the books. (Kit was ridiculously harsh toward Ruthie in the Christmas book when Ruthie was only trying to help her.)

• I have:
  
  
• Felicity (b. 1765)
  
• Elizabeth (b. 1765)
  
• Josefina (b. 1815)
  
• Kirsten (b. 1845), my favorite
  
• Addy (b. 1855)
  
• Samantha (b. 1895)
  
• Nellie (b. 1895)
  
• Ruthie (b. 1923)
  
• Molly (b. 1934)
  
• Ivy (b. 1966)
  
• Julie (b. 1966)

Egad, Julie and Ivy make me feel old. It is so crazy that my generation is now history. We're still alive! Then again, I am sure Molly and Emily's generation felt the same when the Molly books were new in the 1980s. I was looking forward to the Emily doll releasing with the Molly movie (2006), and I was disappointed with both. In the original books, Emily had looked like my friend Tina did as a child. The doll did not resemble Tina at all. The movie did not follow the books or attempt to bring to life the books' characters one bit. Kit's movie was somewhere below average, admittedly. James just made the event sweet. Felicity and Samantha had good movies.

• The historical dolls I don't have are as follows:
  
  
• Kaya (b. 1755)
  
• Rebecca (b. 1905)
  
• Kit (b. 1923)
  
• Emily (b. 1933)
  
• All the modern characters
  
• All the baby dolls

Kaya and Kit are not favorites, though that I don't have them is just happenstance. Rebecca I don't have because I dislike that she is the reason Samantha and Nellie are discontinued[strike], and she has my crazy aunt's name[/strike]. I chose not to collect the American Girl dolls that don't focus on history.

I have all of the Girls of Many Lands dolls and books, also from American Girl. They are all discontinued.

~~~

Anyway, it's a beautiful day! How are you all? Ben is learning to play the piano. He has mastered "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and "Ode to Joy". Well, he only started learning on Saturday. He asked me not to confuse him with any complicated advice, as I know how to play the piano.

~~~

No reviews yet. Sorry. They will happen.

~~~

Due to a busy schedule, I can't see my therapist again until the middle of April and then I can't see her again until May! I am disappointed with that, though it can't be helped. I have a wonderful, wonderful therapist who cares about me as a person. She is nothing like I expected! It has only been around a month since I started seeing her, and only once per two weeks. That is a short time to become so attached to someone. Somehow, just thinking about seeing her already makes me very happy. I wish we both had more time.

[huckleberrypie]

It reminds me of this song:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-86nvBVjaY[/youtube]

[Stella Grapes]

Uh, okie dokie.

[Stella Grapes]

Another upsetting award already. This time I was prepared. I simply did not show up last night. So what happened next? I jest not, one of the mayor's assistants found me leaving work today and handed me the award. He had the grace not to do this in front of students, at least.

This is crazy. This is partly my low self-esteem saying nothing I do is ever good enough to deserve anything. However, I truly do not think people should be rewarded for decency toward those who are different. That implies that said different people ought to be ignored or, worse, mistreated, because apparently anything better than that is sainthood.

Now that said, I have noticed that I do a lot of things without expecting recognition. I have been this way for a long time. Regardless of what I am doing and who I am doing it for, I don't think I do enough to earn any type of reward. I have many, many times in my life worked harder without pay than co-workers have worked with pay. The most recent time involved the job I currently have, though I am getting paid now (to make a long story short), and the past year of volunteer work, tutoring, and doing inventory for James' family, all without pay or obligation, are other very recent examples. It is a fear of rejection coupled with thinking that everything I do is worthless, that I don't deserve payment. Every one of my whole life's exceptions to avoiding asking for pay were out of either necessity or people insisting that I ask for whatever reasons. These feelings of worthlessness also played a part in dynamics between Ben and I. Because Ben is my brother and someone I can joke with, I was braver with him than with most employers. Nonetheless, though - !

I think I am stuck in the Industry Versus Inferiority stage.

Age: 6 to 12 Years

Ego Development Outcome: Industry vs. Inferiority

Basic Strengths: Method and Competence

During this stage, often called the Latency, we are capable of learning, creating and accomplishing numerous new skills and knowledge, thus developing a sense of industry. This is also a very social stage of development and if we experience unresolved feelings of inadequacy and inferiority among our peers, we can have serious problems in terms of competence and self-esteem.

As a child, I wanted to be seen as competent and was very crushed when that did not happen. Thus I stopped expecting to be good at anything and instead expected incompetence at everything. There are many stages one can get stuck in. I am also partly stuck in Trust Versus Mistrust, the 0 to 2 Years stage, though I now know many whom I trust and so that has improved greatly. One would think appreciation would improve IvI. It is only making it more obvious instead.

While I'll always be stuck to some extent, I hope I improve.

But I hope no one is given a plaque and a standing ovation for being nice to me in the process.

~

Funny thing is, people think I am confident. I am outgoing, outspoken, silly, responsible where it matters, and full of life. No one has any idea that I lack confidence unless they have been through something dramatic with me and/or unless I have explained this sort of thing to them. Someone who I thought knew me very well told me tonight, after we had discussed what could have been had another friend gotten better luck,

"If you were normal, you would be very strong. You would be able to convince anyone to do anything good because your spunky personality would win people over so much that they would gladly do whatever you said. You would be very strong in all ways."

"Why?"

"Look at how outgoing and confident you are!"

"I'm not confident. I have horrible confidence."

"Then you hide it very well!"

Goodness gracious gravy gum.

So if Grapes had been born normal and/or had a good childhood, she would have been the Berry Princess before Cranberry. . .

[huckleberrypie]

Well, what'dya know, it's April Fools Day. Fegelein-style antics, anyone?

[Blackberry Bun]

Another upsetting award already

See? My prediction was right. Should I say 'gratz'? Maybe not. There's no point of saying it if you're not happy about it.

Also, Happy Birthday to Sour Grapes! The 'real' one in Strawberryland I mean. =P

[Stella Grapes]

I don't know if you should give congratulations or not. I don't know about lots of things anymore. All I know is I know what I'm doing (in many aspects of life, including this one) and I am happy the boys are progressing. And I know I was born the way I was for reasons, more reasons than I know still today.

And oh my gosh, there is something staring at folks right in the faces and no one can it figure out! Late February until the middle of March, for example, almost all of my students got sick and there were definite patterns to it. Ten out of sixteen were sick by the start of a week, and by the end of that week, only three were still well. Other people were also getting sick, Ben among them. I was sick very briefly and in a way that did not take effect until all this was over. The pattern itself was complicated and would require too many explanations to post. It was definitely a pattern, though. It seems like the more I know and the more sense it all makes, the less sense it all makes. There will always be people who are such gigantic exceptions to what is supposed to happen, these people including me and most likely the twins - certainly Eulalia. We stood more of a chance of getting sick than most, and I barely did and neither twin did.

Combining my endless curiosity with scientific mysteries is probably not the best thing in the world to do. [strike]"This is the quest that never ends! Yes, it goes on and on, my friends! Some people starting questioning not knowing what stuff was, and they'll continue questioning forever just because this is the quest that never ends!" [repeat eternally][/strike]

Yes, I took that from The Song That Doesn't End. :roll:

~

Aw, Sandy beat me to wishing Sour Grapes a happy birthday! This is also the day I was due. Adjusted age stops at two years, buuuut I always feel like I am not fully my age until today.

[RAMChYLD]

Happy belated birthday Prue!

[Blackberry Bun]

Happy belated birthday Prue!

Uh, Prue's birthday is January 17. 1 April is the birthday of the SSc character Sour Grapes. She's pretty much the only character with confirmed birthday date (She mentions the date in "Queen for A Day" episode).

Btw, long time no see, David. I still see you regularly on FB, though.

[Stella Grapes]

No no no, David. Sorry about the confusion. :lol: You're not the first to get confused that way.

Me: "I got birthday cards - "
Person: "Already? It's only January!"
Me: "Well, when you're born in January, you probably will get birthday cards in January." O.o
Person: "Oh, for a minute I thought you had the same birthday as Sour Grapes!"

That has happened three times with three different people, not counting David's mix-up today. hock: