Blue Wagon

I am considering writing a paper on the subject, so I thought I’d come here for opinion.

My friend Lily is beautiful. I mean stunning. I was at the bank with her one day, and the female teller stopped to tell her how beautiful she is. This kind of thing happens constantly. She is also intelligent, kind, owns her own home, and puts other people first.

She is OBSESSED with this man from her past. She met him when she was 20. He was 31. She threw herself at this man, and no one understood why. He was fat and downright grouchy. He was our boss, and she was the only one who liked him. He rejected her advances because he said she still lived at home, and he wasn’t going to get involved with a "little girl". Even though he said that, he took her out every night. He just refused to touch her. After 2 years of this nonsense, she got a boyfriend. It didn’t last.

She never stopped thinking about our old boss. She hadn’t seen him in about 8 years, but she was always googling him to see what he may be up to. This past January, one of our mutual friends ran into him. He immediately asked about Lily. He was like a puppy at Chuck Wagon time as he listened to what the mutual friend had to say. He got her number and called her.

She was thrilled. He was calling her constantly. Sometimes he’d call 18 times in a day. She told me she’d be dreaming about him, and he’d call her in the morning, and she was woken up by the sound of his voice.

This is where it gets weird. They were having amazing phone conversations. They made plans to get together. She wound up seeing him the day before on a fluke, It was a very quick meeting. He mentioned that she looked exactly the same. He was fatter and losing his hair. She’s 31 now, he’s 42. He canceled their date the next day. He claimed that he had a sick parent. He didn’t reschedule either. YET, he has continued to call her even more. She overheard him tell a friend that he is dating her. She didn’t question it, because she NEVER questions him. She tries to keep it light and cheerful.

He asked her to go on an errand with him. He badgered her for 2 days. When the day came, he tried to give her an out, but she didn’t take it. When the errand was over, she said he couldn’t get away from her fast enough. She was getting in her car, but he wanted to hug her. It was the second time in her life that he had touched her. TWICE in 10 years. He called her twice that night. THEN he asked her to go to Miami Beach with him on business.- In his hotel room. He asked for days and finally she agreed. NOW he is telling her it may not happen. When she acted like she didn’t care, he changed it and told her it probably will happen.

She is a wreck today, because today is the first time in 3 months that he hasn’t called her. She wants this man. Why? I don’t know.

Why is he treating her like crap? This woman has it all over him. No one understands it. He won’t seem to ask her out, but he HAS to talk to her. If he calls and she doesn’t answer, he flips out. I’ve seen it. He’ll call her work looking for her. Last week, she had 5 missed calls on her cell, 3 text messages, and 2 memos at work from him- in a span of 10 minutes.

He is 100% single. We know this for sure.

Also, this isn’t the first man who has treated her poorly. This man is just the only one she has actually cared for in a major way. All but 1 have treated her like garbage. I have never in my life seen a woman with such bad luck with men. She is SO pretty, and she goes out with these ugly men who make her feel worthless. She also says she has never been with a man she has been attracted to. The ones she is attracted to reject her, I’ve also never seen a woman rejected as often as she has been rejected. One man dated her for 2 months last year, was obsessed with her, then dumped her after she slept with him because he thought her skin was too pale. They dump her for stupid reasons like that.

Women with low self esteem are treated poorly by men (and everyone else).

It sounds like she isn’t very confident in herself and a lot of times that shows and gives people the wrong idea. Looks aren’t everything. If you don’t have a good personality to go along with it, relationships aren’t going to last that long. She needs to spend time learning how to love and appreciate herself before she tries to get into any more relationships. She needs to drop that jerk who is stringing her along and learn how to enjoy single life for a while. Good luck to her. I hope she realizes her self worth.

chapter one: Tazeim

"what about this?"
"No." I have already told my brother that fifty times today.
" what about this?" He holds up a rock with dried mud leftover.
" No," i Replied as i looked at that disgusting ‘treasure’, as he calls it.
" what about this?" I looked up from my basket of laundry. He was pointing to his chest. For good luck, he wore a pendant that strapped around a brown bag that laid against his scrawny, eight-year-old chest. In it was lucky sand from the beach.
I sighed. " No Zavhariah."
" oh, Come on Tazeim." He puffed out his lips and his eyes grew, creating the puppy-dog face. " This was from Aunty Miriam." I had to agree, Aunty Miriam gave people gifts that would make you feel guilty if you traded it for something. But this was different. We were moving to a new town. in America. Not Portugal. We had to hide our identities. All of the villagers and caravans had to.
" I promise you it will be fun," I tried my best to urge him," Now put it in our trunk. Mami is waiting for us outside. Papi is with Saphire and Finnie." they were the horses that carried our traveling wagon.
I could tell he didn’t want to, I did not want to leave either. but it was because all of the gypsies are being kicked out of the country. Now we are ready. Now lets start our new lives in a place called Massachusetts.

I really liked the names and basis is good so far keep up the good work.

My aunt has 1994 Volvo Station Wagon(not sure of the model). She bought it used and uses it to get back and forth from the horse farm she goes to and my uncle uses it to get his surfboard to the beach. Both places are no that far from their house.

The car will have over 200,000 miles as far as I know, but the car is in great shape, just a few dings and dents on the exterior thats all.

Do you think that it will make a good car to get to and from college about an hour away. I live in NJ by the way.

It should be 4-door, 4-cyls, not sporty. I would prefer Honda or Toyota… First time drivers usually have much more expensive car insurance, and it depends from car. You should compare insurance rates while choosing the car - for example here - carinsurance.deep-ice.com

I would love to buy a real beach cart, but they’re very expensive. I have a garden wagon with black rubber tires. Has anyone ever successfully used one of these on sand?

No!

Hi everyone! I just recently purchased a Chevy HHR (kinda like a PT Cruiser, it’s a "retro" looking wagon) and thought it would be cool to buy some vanity plates for the car. I love the beach and ocean so I’m looking for suggestions for words or phrases that would fit on the plates. I was thinking something like BCH BUM (beach bum) or SEASIDE or something like that. It can’t be more than 7 letters though. Any ideas or suggestions would be great! Thanks!

BCH LVR (beach lover)
SANDLVR (sand lover)
SEA LVR (sea lover)
BEACHY
COASTIE
BCH BOY
OCN LVR (ocean lover)

good luck and have fun.

Most suspensful joke ever.
I was utterly shocked!

A man was driving in the middle of nowhere down a secluded country road far from any cities. He got a flat tire, and got out to walk for help. After walking for some time, he came to a small stone monastery. He knocked on the door and roused the monks. "I’ve got a flat tire. Can I use your phone?" He asked.

The monks said they were sorry, but they did not have a phone. "If you stay tonight, you can get a ride on our wagon into town tomorrow," they said. So the man stayed the night, and they put him in a small room in the monastery.

In the middle of the night, the man was awakened suddenly by a noise. Not just any noise, but the loudest, most wonderful, most terrifying, most hair-raising noise ever.

He sat there, his heart beating for a few minutes, and he heard it again!Getting out of bed, he went running in the direction of the noise. It came again, making the hair on the back of his neck rise and his skin crawl. Finally, he came to a large door where the head monk was standing. The door was at least 15 feet tall, and made of solid-looking wood and metal. It had chains and bars and locks and a deadbolt on it, and was the most formidable door the man had ever seen.

"What was that sound?" he asked. "What made it? Is it behind that door?"

The head monk shook his head. "I’m sorry," he said. "I can’t tell you; you’re not a monk."

As the man turned away, he heard the noise again. "You have to tell me what it is," he begged.

"I’m sorry, I can’t tell you, you’re not a monk," said the monk.

The man tried to sleep, but couldn’t get the noise out of his head. In the morning, as he was getting ready to leave, he heard the sound again. It made his ears ring and his mind whirl.

"Please tell me what made that sound," he said.

But the monks wouldn’t. "I’m sorry, you’re not a monk" was all they said.

The man left, and eventually got his car fixed and went back to his life. But he couldn’t get the sound out of his mind. After a few months, he got in his car and drove and drove until he found the monastery again. He got out of his car and found the head monk.

"I can’t forget that sound from that night I was here. Please, please please tell me what made that sound."

The head monk just shook his head. "I can’t tell you; you’re not a monk," he said.

"Then tell me how I can become a monk," the man said.

The head monk said "It’s very difficult. Are you sure you want to do this?"

The man said "I’ve got to. I have to know what made that sound."

The head monk said, "To join us, you have to perform several tasks. Your first task is to count all of the stars visible in the sky."

The man thought about how hard that would be, but he had to know what made that sound. He sat up every night for a year, counting the stars over and over until he was sure how many stars were visible in the sky.

He went to the head monk and told him, and the monk nodded. "Very good. Your next task is to count all of the grains of sand on the beaches around the world."

The man knew this would be even harder, but he could not get the noise out of his head. He had to know what, what kind of animal, could make that terrible horrible mind-bending sound. So he left on his journeys. He crawled the length and breadth of every beach in the world, counting the grains of sand, and he returned to the monastery years later.

The head monk heard his answer and nodded. "Excellent. You are almost done. Your final task is to climb to the peak of the highest mountain in the world, and see yourself in relation to the rest of creation."

And the man knew this would be hard, but he outfitted himself, and he went to the highest mountain in the world, and he climbed to the top, and returned months later, older and wiser and more tired than years before when he had first heard the noise, the noise that would not leave his mind and that echoed in his every waking thought.

He returned, and the head monk saw that he was wiser, and said "At last, you are a monk. Come with me."

And they walked through the monastery, its twisting and turning halls, and as they went the man heard the noise again, over and over, and he was no longer sure if it was the noise or merely his memory of it.

And finally, finally, he stood in front of the door and the head monk opened it up, and the man saw what had made the noise.

What was the noise?

…………………………..

…………………………..

……………………….

I cant tell you, you are not a monk.
That’s a well good joke.

I’m a 23 year old female DJ, hoping to make a move to the west coast. So I’m trying to learn about a few cities in California and Oregon.

So I’m wondering a few things about Portland:

1. What’s the weather typically like? (especially during the winters and summers) Is the heat dry?

2. What’s the club scene like? (is there an appeal for electro and indie music there? Aka, is there a specific part of portland that is chalk fulla young hipsters? haha) (not because i’m hoping to jump on that band wagon, but the music i play usually appeals to that kind of crowd, so that’s where the money is.)

3. How far are the beaches from downtown? And how expensive is it to live close to downtown?

Thanks a lot of questions!!! Any helpful answers will really be appreciated
First off, an apartment in Portland is going to be WAY cheaper than living in any decent cities in Cali, even downtown. I live in a studio right on the corner of NW 21st Ave which is one of the more popular and trendy areas, also very close to downtown, for $650/mo. A lot of the apartment buildings here are vintage and awesome and always full of lots of young people. A studio downtown would probably run about $700/mo.

As for the weather, it can be grey and rainy, but there are a lot of nice, sunny days, too. Keep in mind, everything around here is so lush and full of color because of the rain, so it’s a give and take. The winters are pretty mild. It snows, but it hardly ever sticks because we’re in a valley. It usually gets down into the 30’s and can be rainy, which is kinda miserable, but better than a place where it snows heavily and keeps you trapped indoors for 4 or 5 months out of the year. It can get up to the 100’s during the summer, in fact, we just had a heat wave last week and had record highs of 96, while the coast got up to 105, but it’s a dry heat. I’m from Florida originally and would gladly take 100 degrees and dry than 80 degrees and humid, any day of the week.

The music scene is very eclectic. Lots of local bands, lots of shows, lots of venues, etc. I’m not really into the club scene, but I know there’s a good amount of clubs and a taste for indie music all over the place.

The beaches are about an hour-hour and a half away and are GORGEOUS! I grew up on Siesta Key in Sarasota, FL, which is a world renowned beach that people come from all over the world to see and I would rather go to the less populated and more scenic beaches on the coast of Oregon.

I love this city more than I ever thought I could and really don’t have any plans to move anywhere else. I encourage anyone who even thinks they might like it to move here, because I know you’ll love it! Good luck in your search!

And don’t listen to the chick who makes Portland out to be a violent city. It’s not! It’s definitely less violent than what I was used to in Florida. All the violence you hear about on the news takes place on the far east edge of Portland where it’s ghetto and where you probably wouldn’t even venture to at any point. It also rains less here than it does in Florida.

I am not done yet but i still would like opinions
-thanks

Do you remember when we first met? The sun was ascending from the luminescent sea, and the seals began to bark from the spur of sudden life. The waves were best for the month of October, and the water was pleasant. The first time I saw you was out in the water, at first I was startled and overwhelmed by the way you projected yourself. You were bold but beautiful, and I could tell you knew what sort of a person you were. When I first saw you in the distance you seemed like a close friend, maybe an old flame, but as I approached I had realized we never before have met. There was this head rush of emotions that were new and unexpected. Yet I was still not sure of the next step I was supposed to take. I had an opportunity to say hello, but I knew I just could not manage wasting that significant gesture. Everything had to be done perfectly, but first I had to get to know everything about you.
It had been two weeks since the first time I saw you. Whenever I was able to get away from the diner, I would drive down to the beach to wait for you. On days I would wait there for hours watching, waiting, and yearning for you to come. Once and a while I would stay until midnight watching from the dunes, for the coppered hair girl I called my own. Some days you would come with friends, and on others you would just sit out on your board at sea and sing to yourself. I enjoyed watching you sing, it was as if you were the only person in the world and i was just a bird admiring your beauty. Time alone in the sea seemed enjoyable to you, I could tell that this place, this time to yourself, was precious. Well, it used to be.
You began coming less often, and that worried me. On the days that you were able to come, you hardly ever sang, and on few occasions did you even attempt to enter the water. It depressed me seeing you like that. I wanted to embrace you to make the hurt stop, and i thought we could sing together to make you forget about your troubles. A few weeks ago I saw his Ford roll up behind your Volks Wagon van, and i could see you shudder at the sound of his footsteps. I watched him grab your arm from behind, and smack your face i felt as If he had hit me. He was young with a large build, and had that strict look in his eye. He was not the kind of man I had ever expected for you. He seemed hateful, and by the swagger in his step he was clearly wasted. I wanted to help you, i felt like i was supposed to run to your side and act as your knight, but i just stood there watching him take away your dignity.
The first time you came with those bruises on your face, I had no idea what to think. Maybe you had fallen down the stairs, I thought to myself. But in the back of my mind I knew it was him. I was lucky to see you once a week, and even then you could stay no more than 30, 40 minutes. Until he would call, and you would run to your car, and drive away to see him. I could only think, what was going to happen when you got there. I tried to delude myself into thinking that he was calling to say he loved you, and how he had just planned surprise dinner reservations, but I knew what the calls were about. He called asking for you to come home and cook him the dinner he heavily did not deserve, he called to say how he was to good for you and that he would leave you, when it should have been the other way around.

It’s really great. I love the description. The second-person narration is a bit odd, but that’s just me. Otherwise, it’s awesome!

I am not done yet but i still would like opinions
-thanks

Do you remember when we first met? The sun was ascending from the luminescent sea, and the seals began to bark from the spur of sudden life. The waves were best for the month of October, and the water was pleasant. The first time I saw you was out in the water, at first I was startled and overwhelmed by the way you projected yourself. You were bold but beautiful, and I could tell you knew what sort of a person you were. When I first saw you in the distance you seemed like a close friend, maybe an old flame, but as I approached I had realized we never before have met. There was this head rush of emotions that were new and unexpected. Yet I was still not sure of the next step I was supposed to take. I had an opportunity to say hello, but I knew I just could not manage wasting that significant gesture. Everything had to be done perfectly, but first I had to get to know everything about you.
It had been two weeks since the first time I saw you. Whenever I was able to get away from the diner, I would drive down to the beach to wait for you. On days I would wait there for hours watching, waiting, and yearning for you to come. Once and a while I would stay until midnight watching from the dunes, for the coppered hair girl I called my own. Some days you would come with friends, and on others you would just sit out on your board at sea and sing to yourself. I enjoyed watching you sing, it was as if you were the only person in the world and i was just a bird admiring your beauty. Time alone in the sea seemed enjoyable to you, I could tell that this place, this time to yourself, was precious. Well, it used to be.
You began coming less often, and that worried me. On the days that you were able to come, you hardly ever sang, and on few occasions did you even attempt to enter the water. It depressed me seeing you like that. I wanted to embrace you to make the hurt stop, and i thought we could sing together to make you forget about your troubles. A few weeks ago I saw his Ford roll up behind your Volks Wagon van, and i could see you shudder at the sound of his footsteps. I watched him grab your arm from behind, and smack your face i felt as If he had hit me. He was young with a large build, and had that strict look in his eye. He was not the kind of man I had ever expected for you. He seemed hateful, and by the swagger in his step he was clearly wasted. I wanted to help you, i felt like i was supposed to run to your side and act as your knight, but i just stood there watching him take away your dignity.
The first time you came with those bruises on your face, I had no idea what to think. Maybe you had fallen down the stairs, I thought to myself. But in the back of my mind I knew it was him. I was lucky to see you once a week, and even then you could stay no more than 30, 40 minutes. Until he would call, and you would run to your car, and drive away to see him. I could only think, what was going to happen when you got there. I tried to delude myself into thinking that he was calling to say he loved you, and how he had just planned surprise dinner reservations, but I knew what the calls were about. He called asking for you to come home and cook him the dinner he heavily did not deserve, he called to say how he was to good for you and that he would leave you, when it should have been the other way around.

It’s really great. I love the description. The second-person narration is a bit odd, but that’s just me. Otherwise, it’s awesome!

I use a red wagon, but it’s hard to do things like go to the beach and hike in the woods. ;:. (

I would use a stick but thats just me. Maybe try a blue wagon with off road tires. I know what you mean a trip to the beach just isn’t that cool without 1100 waffles.