Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Ok so I've been pondering things, taking those horrible long looks in the mirror and I've decided something.

I've gained WAY too much weight since high school.

I blame the lack of the daily misery that is gym class. Without that forced physical motion there's just... stillness and eating. Not to mention the fact that I can knock back a 24 oz bottle of Pepsi in about 2 hours.

My whole diet is just horrible. I eat pasta all the time, I snack all the time, and not on good things. I eat pure crap. And it has to stop. I mean... right now, around me, is a large thing of popcorn chicken, a tub of mash potatoes, a bag of popcorn, empty bottles of Pepsi, and some handi-snacks. I'm a pig!!

So I'm trying to figure out a way to fix this problem that I've developed. Changing my diet is the first step. Getting up off my lazy ass and actually moving around is the second step. Or... the second half of the first step really.

I did buy a Tae Bo DVD from work. Did it once and it kicked my ass. But in a good way. I'm just lazy and I don't keep up with things. I need to start prioritizing my time and not wasting it so much.

It must be fate. Flipping through the channels I ended up on Ellen Degeneres, doing comedy about how much we eat in our society.

So here is my plan:

1. NO MORE PASTA!!!
2. Less Pepsi, more water
3. Daily walks around Payton hill or around the track at school
4. Tae Bo 3 times a week
5. Be a twit and dance to the radio
6. No more Pizza Hut or McDonalds
7. No more double thick cream cheese on my bagels

The hardest parts are going to be giving up the pasta and the Pepsi. I don't think that the actual exercise will be a problem now that I've actually admitted itself to myself. I want to be healthy, I want to sleep good at night, I want to see if my boobs with shrink a little and be more comfortable for me.

Note that at no time did I mention looking different. Because I like the way I look. I just want to be healthy. I'd like to stick around for a few more years. And I think that the best way to do that will be to get healthy. So... the new regime starts tomorrow. No April Fools.

Chapter 1

Elizabeth Jerod flipped through the papers sitting on her desk, her pen clamped between her teeth. The papers that were scattered over the large desk held all the arrangements that she’d spent the last six months preparing. Six people, herself included, would be staying at the Brightly house, a huge manor only a few hours away. The paranormal occurrences that had been recorded in the house, in addition to its dark and mysterious past, had drawn her to it. It was the perfect place for an investigation.

“Aha.” She said around the pen, grabbing a folder and pulling it out from under a pile of newspaper clippings. Flipping it open, she reviewed the list of equipment that she was getting on loan from the Midwestern Paranormal Society for the investigation. Digital camcorders with infrared and night vision capabilities, a ten room surveillance system that recorded directly to DVD, motion detection cameras, digital non-touch temperature gauges and six long range handheld radios.

The equipment didn’t come cheap though. The society wanted to send one of their investigators along to keep an eye on the expensive equipment. She hadn’t had a problem with this arrangement until she’d found out whom it was that they were sending with her.

Molly Delcon was a researcher’s worst nightmare, in regards to scientific data. She was over excitable and tended to see ghosts in every corner. She claimed to have telepathic, mediumistic, and clairvoyant abilities, but when asked for proof or a demonstration she would claim to be tired, or that she couldn’t control the abilities, they simply claimed her body now and then. The paranormal society had chosen her to safeguard their equipment so that they could go on another investigation without her. She was younger than anyone else on the team, just nineteen and fresh out of high school. She had dark blond hair that hun down to her waist but was always twisted up into a messy knot at the back of her head. She had an eyebrow pierced and had the slightly distant look of someone who didn’t smoke just cigarettes.

Sighing softly, Elizabeth shut the folder and tossed it aside. Molly was an inconvenience, but she could deal with that. The rest of the team was absolutely perfect.

Casey Green, a friend and powerful medium, had been the first person she called to join the team. She had worked with Casey on numerous occasions before and as soon as the project started to take shape she’d known that Casey had to take part. Casey had been delighted by the invitation and agreed to the week long investigation without hesitation. She had brown hair that, right then, was short, nearly shoulder length. But there was no guarantee to the length, she tended to show up with a buzzed head quite suddenly. She enjoyed the paranormal and did a great deal of her own investigations. She was also adept at reading tarot cards, palms, runes and other forms of divination.

Alan Orlan had answered an ad that she’d placed in the paper, calling for volunteers with documented psychic abilities to take part in a paranormal investigation. Of all of the bizarre and out of this world responses that she’d gotten, she’d sorted through and found perhaps a handful of legitimate people. Out of these she had found Alan, a clairsentient and clairaudient. He could sense objects and sounds from another plane of consciousness. She had been impressed with his frank, businesslike attitude about his gift, not exaggerating it or making himself out to be more than human like some of the interviewees had. He was short, with brown hair and hazel eyes, and tended to wear an attentive yet slightly cheerful expression on his face.

Lloyd Skylen was the group skeptic. He had been the hardest member to find, by far. Most of the people who had answered that ad hadn’t understood what a skeptic was. A great deal of religious zealots had been interviewed, spouting lines from the Bible and preaching that no spirits could be allowed to roam the earth. Lloyd had been one of the few people who had understood what being a skeptic meant. That a healthy level of disbelief and scientific knowledge was necessary to either prove or disprove any data collected. As it turned out, he had been on several investigations before and had extensive knowledge of what would be expected of him.

Steven Whitely was the final member of the team. He was coming along on the investigation as the technical support. Besides being a technology whiz, he was always Elizabeth’s long time boyfriend. He was bit of a skeptic and tended to grin like he was holding back a laugh when she started talking about EVPs and EMFs and other things like that. He was at least a head taller than her, with black hair and blue eyes, and nearly always had a smile on his face.

She put her pen in her mouth again, leaning forward and grabbing another paper. Yelping when someone caught her sides and tickled her, she turned in her chair and slapped Steven on his shoulder. “Not funny Steve.” She said with a laugh.

“Think I was a ghost?” He teased, giving her a soft kiss.

She rolled her eyes. “Witty. Never heard that one before in my life.”

Pulling a chair over, he sat down backwards on it, resting his arms on the back. “Well everything is all set for tomorrow. All the cameras and stuff have been installed, the electricity is up and running and everything is waiting.”

She gave him a warm kiss. “You are… a god.”

He buffed his fingers on his shirt. “I know, I know. I do have to say, that house is creepy. I may need to be held quite often while we’re there.”

Smiling, she shook her head slightly and rose to her feet. “Wimp.” She teased, walking towards the kitchen. He tackled her from behind, lifting her up and tossing her onto the couch. She was laughing as she peered up at him. “I was getting a soda.”

Grinning mischievously, he shook his head. “Oh no you weren’t.”

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A Ghost Story - The Characters

Elizabeth Jerod – Student, paranormal investigator organizing the week long stay in the Brightly house.

Steven Whitely – Elizabeth’s boyfriend. Handy with technology. Somewhat of a skeptic about ghosts.

Casey Green – Medium who has worked with Elizabeth many times before. Her spirit guide’s name is Porter.

Molly Delcon – Assistant from the Midwestern Paranormal Society. Immature, irresponsible and overeager. Sees ghosts everywhere.

Lloyd Skylen – Skeptic. Accompanying the investigation to validate or mark false any and all information collected.

Alan Orlan – Clairsentient, Clairaudient. Especially sensitive to child related objects and sounds.

Richard Brightly – Owner of Brightly house. Deemed himself a ‘collector of rare and beautiful things’ including objects and wives.

Charlotte – Richard’s first wife. Black hair, black eyes. Disappeared at 27.

Victoria – Second wife. Red hair, green eyes. Also disappeared at 27.

Rebecca – Third and final wife. Blond hair, blue eyes. Rumored to have given birth to a child and then smuggled it out of the house to spare it the horror of living with Richard. Disappeared at 29.

Another Story

I've been pondering, in my spare moments of free time, over a short story. Just some silly, spooky story that's been bouncing around my head. Much like Shivers the idea will not leave me alone until I write it out.

So, setting aside my 100 things list in favor of this, I will present to you my story in chapters, as I finish them. Please remember that I am not a professional writer, that I only do it to entertain myself and, at times, my friends. So if you don't like my story, don't read it. If you do... yay!

What a day...

I'm not sure what happened today...

I slept through both my classes (that I blame on my having to work 40 hours this week), woke up and cleaned my entire room, top to bottom, and just chilled out for a while. It was very nice. Then I did a little Tae Bo (Billy Blanks is a sexy, sexy man), took a shower and fell into a blue funk.

I know what caused it. My sister and I have been fighting a lot lately. The problem is that when we fight, she gets physically violent. In the past few days I've had things thrown at me, been hit with a dog chain, had a shoe thrown at my laptop, been punched, kicked, scratched, and otherwise abused. But all that isn't the worst part. What gets to me is that my family brushes it off because they never see her temper. They tell me I'm exaggerating or making it up, or that it can't have been that bad because she didn't leave any marks. They laugh about it, like it's a joke. It's not funny. And I don't doubt at all that one day she's going to really hurt me. I'm going to end up with a broken bone or a bad cut that needs stitches, or something like that. And when that happens it'll all explode. Kari, that's my sister, will be really really seriously punished and in a way that isn't fair either. They don't discipline her now, at all. Wait, I take that back. If she leaves a mark then she'll lose TV for a day or so. But nothing else. They don't try to get her into anger management or to see a doctor. It's just brushed off. So when soemthing really bad does happen she won't understand why she's being punished.

The worst thing about our fights is that I can't hit her. She'd handicapped, mentally, and if I so much as slap her hand away when she's coming at me it makes me feel like the world's biggest villian. So there's no way for me to stop her besides letting her take out her temper.

I just don't know what to do. It's really hard for me because I do love my sister and I do understand that she's handicapped and doesn't think in the same ways that everyone else does, but sometimes it's just hard. When you're being hurt and no one cares or bothers to try and help. It's like I don't really matter enough for anyone to bother. But now I'm just singing the poor me song. I dunno...

I'll be at the dorms soon. So all the problems will be solved at once. She won't be near me so she won't beat on me, and my parents will have a chance to miss me and realize that I do matter. It's just not fair that I should have to leave my own house to prove that I'm worth caring about... man am I depressed. Sleep should help. Sleep off the blue funk.