Here he is, Joanne, since you asked: Mr. Bullethead!

And what's this about registering in order to use the comment link at the bottom of entries? Is that what the subscription deal is all about? I have been wondering what the benefits of "subscribing" to this webpage are. There are around 50 subscribers (hello to you all) but I'll be darned if I know what difference it makes whether a reader is subscribed or not. If you're a reader who has figured it out, you could let me know.

You see, this is a free webpage. I don't pay for it. Usually you have to pay a monthly fee to have a webpage that includes pictures. This one was offered free at a time when the server was a new startup or something, and I was one of the fortunate ones offered the opportunity to make use of it.

I am grateful, even though there is no technical help available when I run into problems, which I occasionally do. For instance, if you follow the link over there on the right -- "new readers start here" -- it takes you back to the first entry I made, and then the next ... and from there you cannot move ahead. The navigational links are broken and I haven't a clue how to fix them. The "help" page is no help. So? Outta luck. But hey, it's free.

I am always thinking of creating a new webpage, bought and paid for and with reliable technical help when required. I just don't know what server to go with, and they all seem to want you to pay through PayPal, which I can never get an account registered with -- I've tried twice. Might be something to do with my old(er) browser, I don't know.

Oh well. It's not like I have a lot of time to design a new page and learn how to code it. Look how little time I have anymore to write entries here. Stubblejumpers, for instance, gets none of my attention whatsoever. Is it even still there? After a while without any activity, they take the page down. Maybe it's gone.

Speaking of being grateful, I was unpleasantly surprised last night while watching the late-night news to hear some twat (a military general) comment that the released hostages did not seem to be grateful to the soldiers who risked their lives to rescue them. For heaven's sake. These men have been captive and under death threat for four months and people are going to quibble over whether they've thanked their rescuers yet on their first day home? How the hell do they know, anyway, that the released hostages didn't kiss and hug those soldiers the moment they saw them?

Lord, people get on my last nerve sometimes. And the media, just as small-minded apparently, are idiotic enough to pick up on it and blow it out of all proportion. As if they don't have enough of a story here.

Sometimes people display in public what seem to me to be simply bad manners... as if they have no common decency. These guys have been through hell. Let them BE for a few days! They have a trauma to overcome; they don't need to be criticized right now, on top of it.

To the TV, I said, "Shut the F up!"

That's people for you. There are far too many who always have to say something critical, even when they don't really know what they're talking about.

Like the friend of mine who remarked condescendingly about my singing of a chant. I sing "Om namaha shiva ya" and have done so for years, as it comforts and centres me. My friend said, "Do you even know what it means?" as if the effort was wasted if I did not.

I didn't bother to explain to him that although I once knew what it meant and no longer remember, it is the sound of the chant that affects the body's cells and the brain's waves. The body and brain don't need to know what it means. They just need to hear it.

I didn't bother to educate him, because I prefer to let him believe he's smarter than he actually is.

And on that note, for those of you I haven't already sent this link to, check this out. This webpage irreverently (as well it should) trashes the covers of romance novels. It cracks me up every time.