Another Personal Rant Minus the Editing and Story Structure

Hi Everyone.  

Do you guys miss me?  I miss you. And my blog. 

But I guess the good thing about not having a blog to post every Monday morning means I can post a post whenever I want. Like today.

So story structure, editing, and proofing are out the window. Sorry. Hope you guys still like the unfiltered me.  Maybe I should rename my blog: France Unfiltered

You are probably wondering how I am doing on my novel.  Well I've written at least 100.......words.

I know you are underwhelmed. Me too.

So here's my (true) list of excuses of why I haven't had time to properly start to write:

1. Kids went back to school. Which? You think that would free up a lot of my time, but instead it constricts my household to-do list to a narrow window of opportunity, because as soon as school is over it becomes all about my kids. I am running around driving them everywhere. I am making breakfast, lunch, and dinners everyday (and have already run out of menu ideas) and even stupidly agreed to hemming my daughter's skirt (I DON'T SEW! THE SKIRT HAS PLEATS! IT TOOK ME 3 HOURS! WHAT WAS I THINKING?)

2. My dryer started smoking. And I don't mean cigarettes. Like a lint fire. So although we luckily avoided a house fire, it prompted a major cleaning session behind the washer and dryer. I found mail from 2008. Homework from 2007. And if dust that collected behind there was worth as much as cocaine, I could retire right now on some balmy island.  Unfortunately my towels that were in the dryer when the LINT INCIDENT occurred, still smell like they have been hanging around a white trash campfire in Arkansas for a month.

3. My computer still has some kind of funky problem. It reboots every time I save a file. I am thinking this so cannot be good.  Waiting for my husband to rebuild it. 

4. I have been doing extreme housekeeping to make up for the last 10 months of negligence. I have decided housekeeping is not one of favorite things to do. My fingers perpetually smell like bleach and l keep accidentally spraying myself in the eye with Windex.

5. Lastly, I am in a funk since I found out my 80 year old mother in law has to have a hysterectomy. It seems completely unfair that an 80 year woman still has to deal with her uterus. I mean what the hell, when exactly do women only get a respite from reproductive organs?  

Thanks for letting me vent. And forgiving my grammar errors and lack of novel progress. Unfortunately I have no time to update my logo, because I have to leave soon to do some stupid thing I volunteered to do. My next rant will be more of the old me.

Finally I think my Goodbye Rant gave the impression that I was done blogging. I am not. It will just be more erratic. 





 

Good Bye

To My Blog Friends, this week I am writing my most personal post ever.

Last year at the tail end of summer, I quit my job and effectively put the halt on a successful career I spent years building.  My reasons for quitting were few, but they were big.

After I quit, I spent the next couple months decompressing (read: watching a lot of TV and DVDs) and getting adjusted to no longer answering to a big corporation with many leaders and even more demands.  And I still found myself stressed, because suddenly I realized that the way I was accustomed to describing myself during my entire adult life, was no longer accurate.  I didn’t count on losing my identity the day I finally quit.

Then in November, I finally followed my heart and began to write. And I decided to take the things I wrote about and put them in a bright shiny new website.  My initial post, which I put on my short-lived website, was a scathing commentary on the idiocy of some of my neighbors, both current and past. For my efforts, I got berated by my sister for ‘being mean’ which led me to pull down my post that very day. I subsequently pulled the plug on my website shortly thereafter. (One day I will re-post my Neighbor Rant though, because I now know you would absolutely love it. Especially the part about the Smurf blue house. And the accompanying pictures. And the song I wrote in honor of my neighbors. It is truly one of my best, though I really have to wait until someone moves before I post it).   

Still needing to express myself, I explored the possibility of using a blogging site.  I figured it was much cheaper than a website (read: FREE) and better suited for the camaraderie I was seeking.

I hardly knew what I was doing, at least in terms of blogging, when I started. It was such a foreign concept to me. I somehow stumbled upon some blogs (without actually using Stumble Upon) and left a few comments here and there, but was generally unaware of how to access the huge network of people who blog and then get them to visit my new site.

Initially after each post, I would eagerly await for people to comment and provide me with some affirmation that what I had to say was worth reading.  Because each post I wrote felt like a child I birthed, nurtured, watched grow, and then set free to stand alone in the world. I wanted my posts to succeed, because I loved them all, albeit some more than others. (Well I take that back. There is one post I wrote that I actually hated but I was suffering from writer’s block. I didn’t nurture that post, I kicked it out on its ass and told it never to return. I only kept it in my archive to serve as a reminder that I could never write such crap again. I will apologize at the end of this post for that one). The comments never really came.  So then I wondered if maybe this meant that not only was I bad writer, but maybe I wasn’t funny either (even though I do tend to slay myself quite often). 

I was pretty close to quitting blogging and then I was ‘discovered’ by the Empress.  For those of you who know who she is, I need not say anymore.  But for those of you don’t, well the Empress is a blogger who has the unique capability of discovering other bloggers and then selflessly promoting them via Twitter (Twitter…oh dear. Twitter can be so overwhelming to the brand new blogger and social media user. But that’s altogether another story).

So The Empress, she discovered me, promoted me, and ultimately helped me build a small following, while simultaneously teaching me, the novice blogger, about the world of blogging.  I silently watched her from the sidelines, grateful that I finally had a mentor who wasn’t concerned about advancing her own agenda (I actually think of her as the Fairy Blogmother; I am pretty sure she may also have cartoon bluebirds perpetually flying around her head). 

Then finally, the comments came.  Maybe not a lot compared to other bloggers, but at least there weren’t crickets anymore.  For a while, I obsessed about why I wasn’t getting more.  This was also during the time I would check my stats practically every hour to gauge my popularity.  It was mentally exhausting and somewhat out of character for me.  Eventually I made the conscious decision to tune all of it out, because gaining a large following was really, not part of my focus.  My true goal was to write, to create something I was proud of.

And so each week, I obsess over my writing and posts.  I want to make each vignette something humorous and fun, because I love laughing, it’s one of my favorite feelings in life and I indulge in it as often as I can. I like to write about everyday things I find absurd. I like to tell unconventional stories. I like to write interesting dialogue. I like to mix reality and fantasy. Thus you should know that while most of my rants have genuine veins of truth, I can’t help but fictionalize some parts as well. I am not really sure how well my approach goes over in the blogosphere (I have been told that my posts are too long).

In short, my writing has become my work; first I let my ideas flow, and then I go back and dissect every single word and punctuation mark.  I read and re-read, write and re-write, and edit and re-edited each post practically on a daily basis. I let other things fall to the wayside.  It ends up stealing a lot of my time.

In addition to my writing, there’s my logo, which I tailor to every post, and which oddly (to me anyway) rarely gets commented on.  Each cartoon probably takes up another hour or two of my time (except today's, that only took 6 minutes) and is my visual extension of the post I wrote.

So here I am, eight blogging months later, and I find myself wondering, where exactly am I going with this blog? Because even though I only post once a week, I put in considerable time and effort to ensure I write the best ‘product’ I am capable of producing. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the time I put in to following other bloggers that I have become fond of (okay so maybe it also includes some time spent on Perez Hilton, but don't even judge me, a girl has to keep up with Eminem, Mark Walhberg, Ryan Reynolds, and soon-to-be-a-break-star-if-he-doesn't-fall-under-the-Superman-curse, Henry Cavill).  

After thinking about it long and hard over the last few weeks, I have realized that my blog is actually distracting me from my real goal and dream, which is to write a novel and have it published. It was one of the main reasons why I quit my career. 

For the ideas, plotline, subplot lines, and zany characters of my novel have been swirling around in my head for many months now, yelling and begging me to make them into real, potentially marketable, fiction.  Yet I have been putting them to the side like naughty children, telling them to be quiet as they are bugging me while I am doing other writing stuff.  And recently I realized ‘they’ started listening to my command, because they are not as loud anymore. And that scares me, because I don’t want to lose them. They may be my future. They deserve a chance. 

Given the expectations I put upon myself when I write, along with the basic needs of everyday life, I understand that I am incapable of simultaneously writing both this weekly blog and a book. One of them has to give.

Thus it is time for me to stop my weekly blogging, at least for a while, because I cannot produce the kind of post I like to produce on a weekly basis and still devote myself to writing my novel. 

So I hope you, my readers, understand why I have to do this.  And I also hope you know that your comments and reactions strengthened the belief I already had in myself that maybe I do have the talent to do this.  Because this novel is a dream I have had for many years, and I am lucky enough to have family and friends who believe and encourage me to pursue this thing already.

(Who knows? Maybe I will beat the odds and actually make it happen. However I’m no dummy, I know it won’t be an easy road.  And know I may fail. But that doesn’t matter, because I still have to try.  I don’t want any regrets.)

In the meantime, I will continue to follow your blogs as often as I can, because the world of blogging gave me back a piece of myself that went missing for a while after I stopped working.  Plus you guys make me smile.

And I still plan on posting on occasion, if you will have me….

So before I temporarily sign off, I have some thanks to dole out:

To those wonderful women, The Empress, Alison, 2 Girls On A Bench,  Tonya & Carrie formerly AdHocMoms (p.s. go check out Tonya's new site: Going To MENSA) and The Flying Chalupa, who at various times promoted me/my blog via Twitter  – THANK YOU. (You also need to know how utterly ironic it was to me that others promoted me, because I felt I did such a poor job of promoting myself, yet I spent the bulk of my career successfully marketing things for others. Go figure). 

One last thing before I go, I owe my readers an apology for my Music Video Rant, posted in April.  I am sorry. That rant sucked. It sucked HARD. Of all the posts ever posted anywhere, it was the worst. And it was the only rant I ever wrote that I absolutely hated (although I loved the tarty cartoon outfit my logo wore at the end with the thigh high boots. Those boots were hot.  And the feathers were my homage to Cher.  I do a freakin' great impression of Cher singing "If I Could Turn Back Toooooommm". And yes I know it's Turn Back Time, but I sing it as Toooooommm). The week I wrote that post, I was suffering from a horrible case of writer’s block and could not get my mojo to mo or jo.

XOXOXO – France

p.s. Good Lord, I just re-read this post. It reads like an insufferable Academy Award acceptance speech or something. It may be a little over the top. I am not trying to be full of myself folks, I just wanted to explain my thought process so that the few of you who follow me, don’t feel like I left you high and dry when you visit my blog looking for something new to read. (In spite of myself, I sometimes do have a conscience.  Or maybe it’s just guilt, because let’s not forget, I’m Italian AND Catholic for God’s sake). In fact, it will be a miracle if I don’t just delete this whole post.

Wonderful, I so glad to be temporarily signing off potentially sounding like a pompous asshole.  

Carolee Bildsten's Unique Weapon

Folks I am having major computer issues that my hubby is trying hard to correct, so I cannot post what I had planned. What follows is one of my earlier posts that I think two people originally read.  It is my slant on a local news story.  Maybe people will appreciate it the second time around - France.

Carolee Bildsten has had a couple of rough months. 

One minute Carolee, a 56 year old registered dietician with the American Diabetes Association, was rhapsodizing about the safety of eating moldy food in newsletters (i.e. The Clinton Holistic and Health Advisory Ministry of Clinton AME Zion Church) and the next, she was a weaponry renegade, deviating from the criminal norm and using malleable ammunition on an adept police officer.

Confused?  Let me recount Carolee’s fascinating story with facts, plus some personal speculation, that I have pieced together from various local news sources. 

Carolee first displayed a potential lack of judgment on November 9, 2010, when she decided to dine at Joe’s Crab Shack.  But her second real misstep, the catalyst of her subsequent problems, was skipping out on her dinner check.  Unfortunately for Carolee, Joe's Crab Shack management was ready for this potential scenario, as she had recently pulled this stunt at this exact location before.  As such, they immediately contacted the local police.  (Which?  I wonder if Corporate Joe’s honored the genius manager who recognized Carolee as someone who previously skipped out on a check, yet seated her again anyway, with a Joe’s Crab Shack Employee of The Month Award for Best Customer Service of the Worst Customer Possible.)

The police responded soon after and found an intoxicated Carolee passed out on the grass, right down the street from the restaurant. (Intoxicated?  Hmmmm, perhaps just like me when forced to dine at Joe’s, Carolee realized she needed a strong dose of liquid courage to aid in the palatability of a Ragin’ Cajun steampot.)  Carolee went on to explain to the officer that her money was at home and she would be happy to pay her bill, if only she could go fetch it.  Apparently drunken Carolee is much the smooth talker, as the officer agreed to this line of reasoning. At this point, I think we all need to take a moment and applaud Carolee for her impressive moxie.  

Together Carolee and the responding police officer found their way to her apartment.  Once there, Carolee walked into her bedroom where she claimed her money was stored, opened her dresser drawer, and pulled out a “clear, rigid feminine pleasure device”.  And no, I’m not referring to her Visa.  It was a vibrating sex toy. According to the police report, she then held the ‘device’ over her head and approached the officer in a ‘threatening manner’ (Pause with me a second here.  If being threatened with a rigid vibrating sex toy, what is the worst thing you could imagine happening to you?  Getting tickled?  Poked in the eye? Thumped on the head? Or having it jammed in your ear?)

Fortunately the officer sensed the imminent danger and with deft precision, deflected the device in lieu of being struck.  (Which makes me wonder, does the police academy offer special training classes on sex toy defense?  I can visualize the teacher in class right now……“Listen up Cadets. Today we are talking about a serious danger to police officers everywhere, the dreaded sex toy weapon.  Now which of you bozos can answer this question, and think hard assholes, cause your life or your partner’s life might depend on it one day: when faced with a threatening sex toy are you gonna try to block or disarm the perp?  WEEEEELL?")  

Back to the police officer, who chose the blocking tactic.  After successfully thwarting the attack, he placed Carolee under arrest and escorted her to the police department, where he undoubtedly succumbed to massive ridicule heaped upon him from his fellow officers. Carolee on the other hand, was released on a personal recognizance bond and issued a December 6th court date. 

December 6th then rolls around, and wouldn’t you know, ole Carolee missed her court call.  This action provoked the honorable Judge Brian Hughes to issue a $75,000 warrant, right before Christmas. The warrant was probably worded as such: Be on the lookout for a Caucasian female, who may be trying to steal food, is probably intoxicated, possibly horny, and potentially wielding a uniquely shaped flexible plastic item as a weapon, even though it is totally meant for, uh, personal use.

As luck would have it by December 29^th, Carolee AKA the Sex Toy Fugitive, was apprehended and sitting in jail, unable to meet her $10,000 bond, and probably wishing she had gone to the Outback Steakhouse instead.  Her fate will be determined in the near future, as a new court date has been set.

And as if her current legal woes weren’t enough, Carolee must now endure the indignity of the dreaded unflattering mug shot photo, which a quick internet search shows, proves to be aplenty as the feisty little Ms. Carolee has incurred past legal indiscretions.  Of the few I’ve seen, the picture where she is wearing a long sleeved t-shirt declaring she’s a “Sport Mom” was the most unexpected.  I guess her "Horny Mom” t-shirt was buried in the dirty laundry pile that day.

Carolee's Infamous Mug Shot

Meanwhile, according to the Chicago Tribune, while Carolee sat in jail (no doubt pondering her future and the wisdom of consuming seafood, moldy or otherwise), her lawyer, Neil Calanca, admonished the arresting police officer and claimed he “should be ashamed” for including the sex toy allegations in the police report, as he (Neil) would have been embarrassed to include such information.  Which I guess could imply that lying passed out drunk in the grass nearby a family restaurant after purposely not paying a restaurant food bill, is perfectly acceptable to Neil.  Or perhaps he was just grasping at straws, because what else is he supposed to say on behalf of such a nitwit of a client?  

After reading all this, curiosity got the best of me and I decided to take stock of my own armamentarium.  I ran upstairs to rifle through my dresser drawer to determine what I could use in a potential I-skipped-out-on-my-restaurant-bill-and-now-the-police-are-in-my-bedroom confrontation.  Compared to Carolee, I obviously lead a more insipid existence, because the best I could muster was a 1993 VHS tape of Homey The Clown skits compiled from various episodes of In Living Color, a pair of earrings I thought I lost, and an old lint brush.

Like other locals following this case, I am awaiting Carolee's new court date.  Given all the facts (and speculations) I have presented, I have some nagging questions about this case that I hope will be answered soon, namely:

• Was the pleasure device ever detained by the police as evidence?
• Will the device be taken in for forensic analysis to support police allegations?  
• Will Carolee.......ever get off?
• Will the Lake County penal system give Carolee......a stiff sentence?
• And finally……did Carolee ever get around to paying her damn food bill?

p.s. You didn’t really think I would adorn my logo with the obvious tacky choice, did you?

France Answers Questions About America

This week, Alison, blogger of Mama Wants This and FranceRants, are interviewing each other via our blogs!  

I came to know Alison a few months ago, when she burst on the blogging scene, making new friends everywhere.  I quickly became intrigued with the fact that Alison lives in Malaysia and was curious about what her life was like there.  We agreed to interview each other about our respective countries and you will find our interviews on our blogs. 

Below are the crazy questions I asked of Alison, and she indulged me with patient and informative responses. Please visit her blog, Mama Wants This to read her questions and my answers regarding American things like Halloween, LA, and the Kardashians. (Feel free to provide additional information via comments if you feel my responses are a bit off.  Although don’t tell her what Black Friday really is, because I totally lied. I mean how inane is it that Americans have given a name to a day that we devote to Christmas shopping?). Once there you can also sign up to follow her blog and/or follow her on Twitter!

France: Not to be stereotypical, but many Americans think people from Asian countries eat gross things, like squid eyeballs covered with fermented fire roasted tofu sauce.  What's the grossest thing you have ever eaten in Malaysia?

Alison: Asians do eat things that are considered gross, like the century egg which is considered yummy by Chinese people. The grossest thing I've ever eaten is ironically something Americans probably love – chicken liver. I can't eat innards of any kind.*shudder*

France: Dang, you must have had some bad pate to rate a nasty century egg above chicken liver! Back to Malaysia, I need to know if Malaysian equals Asian? I mean the word Asia is in there somewhere, so I just made the assumption, but wasn’t Malaysia under British rule for a while? Does this mean Malaysians speak English? Or Malaysianese (is that even a word)? Can you please explain your country’s structure to confused folks like me?

Alison: Yes, Malaysia is located in Southeast Asia. It is a British colony, and achieved independence on August 31, 1957.

Malaysians are generally multilingual. The official language is the Malay language, and English is the second language taught at school. I speak three languages – English, Malay and my mother tongue, Cantonese, one of many Chinese dialects. It's very multicultural here so you'll here many different languages being spoken!! Most Malaysians do speak English, yes.

France: Does Malaysia have KFC, McDonald's, and/or Chipotle fast food restaurants?

Alison: Unfortunately for my ass, yes, Malaysia does have KFC, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, but no Chipotle. We do have our own version of fast food -  it's called a 'mamak'. They're usually open 24/7 and offer local delicacies such as 'nasi lemak' (literally translated to 'fat rice') – it's rice with spicy sambal, anchovies, boiled egg and cucumber; 'mee goreng', which is fried noodles and 'roti', which is Indian bread. All fattening, all greasy, all unhealthy and all, totally delicious.

France: Bummer about not having Chipotle, because their 1800 calorie carnita burritos are de-lish. So do Malaysian fast food restaurants have drive-thrus? And if so, does the order taker sound all garbled when they are asking you for your order, because I am wondering if the fast food speaker systems in your country are better?

Alison: Yes, in fact, there are drive-thrus. Our speaker systems are awesome. The order takers? Notsomuch.

France: Out of curiosity, does the Malaysia version of TMZ report every single thing that the stupid Khardasian family does?

Alison: To be honest, I don't even know what the Malaysian version of TMZ is as local celebrity gossip here is so meh! Malaysians LOVE Hollywood gossip so we er, go to TMZ too. I'm not sure we care much about the Kardashians. (Kim who? What are they famous for? What did they do? Huh?)

France: I wish I could answer your questions about the Kardashians, but unfortunately I am not equipped to handle them.  I'm not sure anyone is, really. How about holidays?  What holidays do Malaysians celebrate and which is typically the favorite one?

Alison: People, if you don't like to go to work much, you should move to Malaysia, STAT. This country is so full of holidays, I wonder how anyone gets anything done.

We are multicultural here, so we have many cultural and religious holidays. There's Chinese New Year (usually January/ February) Muslim New Year (lalso known as Eid, usually in September/ October), Deepavali (for the Hindus in October), Christmas, New Year's Day.

There's also Wesak Day (Buddhist, in May), Thaipusam (Hindu, usually in January/ February), Hari Raya Haji (Muslim, in October) and a few others. Oh, and state holidays! And Sultan's birthdays! And the King's birthday!

There's Independence Day too on August 31. And oh, a newly declared holiday, known as Malaysia Day on September 16.

In 2011, there are a total of 12 national holidays and around 4-5 additional days for each state for state holidays.

Seriously, do you want to move here?

France: Well I do want to move out of Illinois one day, but I was thinking of somewhere...uh, less exotic. Like Colorado. Now tell me the truth, do Malaysians pig out like Americans on your holidays and then pass out on the sofa, stuffed and unable to move, with the top button of your pants undone? Or do you guys pass out on futons? Or are futons Japanese?

Alison: We have sofas just like you guys. And yes, food is important to us. It's always about the food. We do stuff our faces. In fact, for some of the national holidays above, the government hosts huge events called 'open house', where everyone is invited to come eat. I'm quite serious.

I do believe futon is originally Japanese. :)

France: Yeah, futons. Japanese or not, they confuse me (is it a bed or is it a sofa?). I am also getting the sense that you guys don't live in grass huts, which is a relief.  Let discuss sports. What favorite sports do Malaysians watch or participate in? And do the men who watch these sports paint their faces with the team’s colors? And do they cry or throw little temper tantrums when their team loses?

Alison: People, men worldwide cry and throw temper tantrums when it comes to sports. Soccer, or football as it is known here, is the most popular sport. People play it and they watch it on TV. Malaysians love the English Premier League (from whence David Beckham came), the Spanish La Liga, the Italian Serie A. Malaysian men probably will paint their faces if they watch the game in a stadium – they will also wear their team jerseys proudly, and think that if they shout at the TV/ players in the stadium, they will affect the outcome of the game.

Badminton is pretty popular here. In fact, the world number one male badminton player is Malaysian.

France: Soccer to badminton, huh. Who-da-thunk-it? I mean say the words 'soccer' and some women think of the players as hot-looking athletic guys with sinewy sweat glistening muscles running around shirtless (not me though).  Then say 'badminton' and I get nothing. No conjured up image. No muscles. No half-nakedness. Maybe just a brief visual of some guy with skinny legs and knock knees wearing white shorts and holding a fluorescent pink bird. Oh well. On to the next question which is: do cars in Malaysia having steering wheels on the left or right side?

Alison: We drive on the correct side of the road, our steering wheels are on the right. ;)

France: Hmmm. And are Malaysian men capable of stopping and asking for directions if they are lost in Malaysia?

Alison: One word: NO. Men are the same worldwide, as you may have gathered by now.

France: Figures. How much is a gallon of gas in Malaysia? Heck, is it even called a gallon of gas, or is Malaysia advanced like the rest of the world when it comes to measurement, and its called liter of gas?

Alison: We go by 'litre', and we say 'petrol', in Malaysia. It used to be cheap but now it's RM2.80/ litre or US$.94/ litre. One gallon is about 4 litres, so it'd be US$3.84/ gallon, which I surmise is more than what you guys pay! Also? The price is fixed, nationwide.

France: Oh I see, Malaysians like the fancy spellings and terms. Nice. (And btw, I live in an area that has some of the highest gas prices in the nation, so you actually pay less.) Okay, one final question: have you ever been to America, and if so, where did you go?

Alison: Oh yes! I've been to America a few times:

When I was 9: My sister and I, escorted by our aunt, visited family in California. I believe they lived in an area called Hercules. We were on a one month vacation which included trips to Los Angeles, Reno and Waikiki. What stands out for me? 

• Learning to skateboard
• Making Jello for the first time
• Disneyland and Universal Studios
• The huge buffet at the hotel in Reno and the fact that us kids were stuck in the hotel room one night when the adults went to watch some show that we were not old enough to go to!
• The grocery stores! Everything looked huge - from the boxes of cereal to the cartons of milk and juice.

When I worked for Nike: My first work trip for Nike in 2006, was 4 months after I started, and I went to Oahu, Hawaii!! Yeah baby. After the work trip, I made my way to San Francisco to visit my brother and the same family I saw when I was 9.

Subsequent trips for Nike to America: 2 trips to Portland, Oregon where the Nike World Headquarters is located. One my first trip, I went to New York City after the event in Portland ended, and spent 6 wonderful days there. On my second trip, I again visited my family in San Francisco.

The work trips are what I miss most about having a career!

My travel visa to the US doesn't expire until 2016 so I'm hoping to make my way there soon! Maybe for a blogging conference?

Alison, thanks for your time and gracious answers (you're one of the nicest people  I've met through blogging)! Malaysia sounds different, yet similar to America. Remember folks to visit Mama Wants This to give your input on one of the still most controversial American issues: Camp Angelina or Camp Jennifer!