In case no one realizes it (except Cassie, who already heard me whining about this today) I am unhappy.
If you care to know why, here's the gist of it: I want to go back to England. Or Scotland. Or Wales.
I don't care overly much which part of the UK I'm in, as long as I'm there and NOT HERE.
It should be old news that I hate living here. Hate. It. Have since I was, ooh, 12 or 13? Possibly 14. Definitely 15.
I hate the cold and I hate the snow, mostly, and it grows with every year I live here. I feel like I'm running in place. I realized at some point along the line if I didn't escape, I was going to get stuck here and never get out.
That's part of the reason why I went to England. I figured getting out for a bit might work it out of my blood, and I could live a boring life in peace. But since coming home, it's just gotten worse than before. I can only assume that because I now know what it's like being away, now I want to stay away...possibly for a long, long time.
I don't think I'd be missed much here. Outside of my immediate family I have very few friends. I have maybe two or three here and a couple back home. The rest of the family doesn't seem to care very much so I don't care very much about them, either.
I don't know. It'll be expensive. I want to try and get my Master's overseas; be gone for a year and then maybe I'll come back...if I haven't found something better first.
I need to think about it for awhile yet. Not sure where I'm going right now and not sure what I want. I'm kind of in limbo.
In other news, I have become the monkey in the middle between my mother and college freshman sister. Mom wants to talk to Anna; Anna wants to talk to Mom. The problem is, Ma doesn't use e-mail and Anna's phone is down...so guess who winds up being the relay station, the telegraph pole, the fiber optic cable between those two. ME. I can e-mail Anna, who can tell me stuff, and then call Mom, who can tell me stuff to tell Anna in the next e-mail I send. And so it goes.
I always hated monkey in the middle as a child and now I know why-I wind up being the monkey. Every. Bloody. Time.
I think I'm going to sit and do nothing most of this weekend. Probably best if I do. Lazy is best when things are trying to fix.
And the last bit of news is: I posted a fic today, it has 115 reads and NO ONE has reviewed it yet. I am hoping that by tomorrow morning when I finally get out of bed, there will be one. It was a brilliant (or so I thought) River/Doctor piece.
That's about it. I'm at level 22 in Oblivion and have to kill some Xiviali and Daedraic nasties before I can close the gate to hell, or the emperor will never take his throne. The land needs an emperor. I need to kill some Daedric nasties. It all works out somewhere...
The only problem I'm having now is I accidentally scored a point of infamy someplace. My fame is up to over 70, but now with ONE point of infamy to my name, I'm repeatedly hearing the phrase, "I thought you were a hero, but now I see you're just like everyone else." My public turns against me and I don't know why. What did I do wrong?
It's a jungle out there, and those Daedraic monsters are waiting to kill me. Too bad I'm on God mode (still. Never going to get off it. Halfway through, almost. Can't now that I'm dependent on it.)
Lots to do. Spider Daedra are calling me, and I have to zap them.
Ta,
Bec
PS: Before I head off to bed, I wanted to update you all on a story I told you last year. Recall the one about the logger who came stumbling out of the woods with four bullet wounds, telling a story about a one-armed man and some other feller shooting him, and the cops looked for these guys in a black SUV but in the end it turned out he'd made it up and shot himself?
Read that old entry here:
"http://becca-blog-bec.blogspot.com/2007/09/yes-story-below-is-true.html">
Anyway, here's the news report from Rhinelander on the trial...
The rural Rhinelander man convicted last month of lying to police about an alleged shoot-out in the woods of northern Lincoln County has been sentenced to 14 days in jail.
John “Homer” Van Meter, 54, will also pay a $2,500 fine and spend one year on probation.
The Lincoln and Oneida County Sheriff’s Departments, which investigated the case, will not receive any restitution for the time they spent hunting for the one-armed man Van Meter said shot him in April of 2006.
Lincoln County Circuit Judge Jay Tlusty said the departments are not technically “victims” of Van Meter’s crime under Wisconsin law and therefore cannot receive compensation for the time spent investigating the alleged shooting.
Van Meter was convicted last month of one misdemeanor count of obstruction in connection with a gambit in the woods which he said began when two people in black SUV, including a one-armed man, shot at him.
The self-proclaimed “hillbilly logger” claimed he fired back at his attackers and ended up with four gunshot wounds after a prolonged gun battle with the two men.
After months of investigation the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department announced they had determined the shooting was a hoax and the district attorney’s office charged Van Meter with obstruction.
During sentencing Thursday, Lincoln County Assistant District Attorney Kurt Zengler said there is no doubt that Van Meter’s insistence on clinging to his “fantasy world” forced the Lincoln and Oneida County Sheriff’s Departments to waste valuable time investigating a crime that didn’t happen.
Zengler argued for 30 days jail time, even though he admitted he doesn’t believe time behind bars will alter Van Meter’s faith in his story, and he asked that the two departments receive approximately $11,000 in restitution.
“(Some time in jail) might get him to reform his conduct so there are no further flights of fancy that will cost the taxpayers money,” Zengler said.
Van Meter’s attorney, Marcus Berghahn, argued for probation and a $1,000 fine. He said the state never proved Van Meter shot himself (or that someone else shot him at his behest) and argued the local police decided the case was a hoax because they were in a hurry to resolve the matter before the summer tourist season.
Given his chance to speak, Van Meter angrily insisted that did not shoot himself or perpetrate a hoax. He claimed it is law enforcement officials who are living in a fantasy world and added that he is so disgusted with law enforcement in the Northwoods that he may run for sheriff in the next election.
“The hoax here is what has been crafted by the police and prosecution.” He also mocked the idea that he could shoot himself four times or that one of his friends would shoot him at his request. “This has been nothing but a slanderous, false and malicious lie from the beginning,” he said.
Finally, Van Meter said he is still investigating the alleged shooting with the help of a former director of the FBI.
“If you want something done right do it yourself,” he said.
Van Meter ended his speech with what appeared to be a reference to Jesus Christ and a quote from the Bible. He said he holds no grudge against the jurors who convicted him and added “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
In determining a sentence, Tlusty said he had to keep in mind the magnitude of Van Meter’s lie and the reality that the crime for which he was convicted is a misdemeanor.
He said he doesn’t believe Van Meter, who has no prior criminal history, is a threat to the public and agreed with both attorneys that a longer jail sentence would not have an impact. Before concluding the hearing he warned Van Meter that if he doesn’t behave while on probation he could be sentenced to a longer jail term.
Van Meter will be allowed Huber privileges and Tlusty said his probation agent will decide when the jail term should begin. Van Meter must also submit to any evaluation ordered by his probation officer.
He will be allowed to serve the sentence in Oneida County.
Last week, Van Meter filed a motion requesting a new trial. A hearing on that motion will be held Sept. 18.
No comments:
Post a Comment