Shanon Marie Clare Angermeyer Norman
Bio
Stories (69/0)
Driving Around and Thinking
Did you see that movie "Pretty in Pink" directed by John Hughes starring Molly Ringwald? It was a great film and one of my favorites when I was a teenager. Who couldn't relate to that girl? She was so cool. She was poor, but she had a part-time job. She was the daughter of an alcoholic father who was still nursing a broken heart over her mother who left them years ago. Since her father doesn't hold a job, she can't afford all the expensive clothes that she sees many of the "popular" girls wearing, so she makes her own out of cheap and used material and creates her own style. She tolerates the peers that make fun of her. Although she doesn't have any cheerleaders telling her to do well in school, she wants to be successful in life so she makes her education important and disciplines herself to achieve excellent marks. She's a role model for any teens who feel lost and alone and not sure what to do at the doorway to adulthood. I loved that movie. I mention it now because there was one specific scene that seems to deja-vu through my mind as I begin the second half of my life. The scene where she is sitting in her cute little pink car and staring at the "richies" houses. "I wonder if they know how amazing their house is?" she asks her friend. Thirty-three years have passed since I graduated from high school. I've had many jobs, many cars, and seen many cities and towns. Yet whenever I see a house that I think is charming and beautiful, I park and pause for a moment and ask the same thing - "I wonder if they know how amazing their house is?"
By Shanon Marie Clare Angermeyer Normanabout a month ago in The Swamp
A Rumbling Volcano
Phew. This is just a random journal splurt. I'm overwhelmed with emotions and thoughts because it's Christmas Eve/Day at midnight and this December has been overwhelming. I just want to write and type, although I have no specific topic or theme to focus on. I need to dust myself off and try to declutter all the words, ideas, feelings, etcetera that seem to be clogging my expression and making it difficult for me to pinpoint my aim.
By Shanon Marie Clare Angermeyer Normanabout a month ago in Journal
Stocking a Camp Cooler
I learned whatever I know about camping the hard way and on my own. It wasn't a planned vacation or a choice that I thought I would make; Yet it was a very valuable experience. Sometimes we plan too much. A plan is a good idea, like a budget. Theories and inventions can help us sometimes, but sometimes they fail. The old cliche "if it's not broke, why fix it?" is very real to me especially since I have and seen others try to re-invent the wheel for no good reason.
By Shanon Marie Clare Angermeyer Norman2 months ago in Lifehack
Gandy Beach (also known as Redneck Beach) is changing
There's a lot on my mind today. I imagine I'm not the only one who thinks a lot. I'm trying to stay focused on my personal goals, desires, and the garage sale I'm running today and tomorrow, but as I sit here sipping soda and smoking cigarettes, I can't help it, I'm thinking about lots of things that may or may not be any of my concern.
By Shanon Marie Clare Angermeyer Norman3 months ago in Earth
Magazine Subscriptions - Are they Worth it?
I like magazines. Honestly, I prefer magazines over books most of the time. They go a lot further and take up a lot less space. They are easy to travel with. They can be recycled and used quicker. They usually have more art and photographs within their pages to enjoy. Yes, I'm a fan of magazines.
By Shanon Marie Clare Angermeyer Norman3 months ago in FYI
Does Marriage Have Rules?
How many times have you been married? Never? Once? Too many to remember? Did you go through a divorce or were you widowed? Did you win or lose in the divorce? What did you win or lose? Money? House? Car? Child? Did you have to start over with nothing but the hope that your life mattered enough to keep going even though you were broken-hearted and had nothing to offer the world except yourself? I've been watching that tragedy happen to so many people for a half-century, and I've read books and movies that depict these terrible experiences through history for centuries. Yet regardless of how many times we read or view a scene like the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones, we somehow still want to believe that Love and our silly immature notion of Love is worth gambling on. I am sorry to tell you, but at 51 years old, I have developed a very strong opinion that Love is not worth dying for. Romeo and Juliet were two stupid, horny idiots who committed suicide because they hated their parents and they thought that death was better than slavery. So be it. But if I had been Juliet, I would have told my parents, "I'll marry the guy you want me to marry, as long as we have a legal prenuptial agreement. This way when he screws up, I will be set and rewarded for agreeing to be his slave for however long it takes until he screws up. I'm not going to be the whore/slave for years and end up homeless and starving on the street just because I trusted my parents."
By Shanon Marie Clare Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Marriage
Sybil's Classroom at Trok
Dear Sally, I got your last letter and I loved the small painting of the mountains that you sent. That's your view? Amazing. Those mountains are as scary as I imagined. I wish you had sent a sketch or painting of you. Is your hair still long or did you cut it? I have that old sketch of you that I did when we were at the Necromancer school, but I would love a fresh image. I haven't seen your face in so long and I don't want to forget it. I know I say it too much, but I miss you.
By Shanon Marie Clare Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Fiction
The Planet of Panoras
Dear Sally, I'm writing from the small village of Trok in between the Elijah River and Lake Elizabeth. The river used to flow around the bend into the neighboring town, but the beavers dammed it up and now the only way to go anywhere is to sail to the estuary where Elijah meets the long, long river called Bagulph. What a weird name right? Bagulph? Where did they come up with that? It makes me laugh. Most of these townspeople have their own little boats, but of course I haven't learned how to make my own boat and I can't affod to buy the kind that they will allow me to go on the river with. So I'm somewhat trapped in this tiny hut and the weather has been cruel also.
By Shanon Marie Clare Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Fiction
Silly Lilly the lovely Lab
For a long, long time I was certain that I would never have a dog to call my own. I grew up around dogs and loved dogs, but I didn't get my very own dog until I was in 3rd grade at the age of 9. I had loved my mother's dogs - Oggie and Butchie, but it was Leo the Chow Chow that I fell in love with because he was MY dog. I was responsible for him. A 9-year-old girl can love a pet with all her heart, but that doesn't mean she has any control over the pet's fate or her own. After I had learned that lesson nursing my broken 10-year-old heart for not having Leo anymore, I was certain that I would never have my own dog again --- that I would never give my heart like that again to another dog. I had cats instead. Cats didn't break my heart. They were too independent for such folly.
By Shanon Marie Clare Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Families
Conspiracy Theories
Have you noticed how many conspiracy theories have sprung up the past five years? Why do you think so many have given us pause to ponder? Do you think it had something to do with war, politics, crime, economy, love, peace, beauty, sickness, and/or the loyalists of the "keeping it real" trend? I do. I'm mentally-ill - Nice to meet you. Do you agree with the Chesire Cat that "we're all MAD here...." ? I do, but some of us got an official diagnosis, which can be difficult or helpful depending on how one utilizes their title.
By Shanon Marie Clare Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Criminal
Thinking about an American Rennaisance
I do not deny that I am a big fan of money. I do not deny that I have envied those who made or saved or inherited more money than me. I do not deny that I think money is the safest form of power that humans can trade with. Money gets a bad rap most of the time. Even religious fanatics have put down money at some point when their faith was tested or they were at some spiritual crossroad. Some vagabonds don't hold on to their identity or association with money. They will wander freely like no-name beggars and they prefer that lifestyle. I never wanted to be anyone but me fully knowing that I am born from money and was raised with all the notions of a society of economy. I watched many westerns where the cowboys and indians would fight for land or women in some terratorial battle. I've seen films and shows that have depicted the theme of "this town's not big enough for the both of us" or some John Wayne type Sherrif taking over and kicking out the trouble-makers. These are not just silly movies to me. They represent American civilization in symbolic and spiritual ways and they have touched my soul furthering my belief that a money-less civilization is not one that I comprehend.
By Shanon Marie Clare Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Journal
