This was sent to me via email from my good friend, Lady Gabriel.  It doubtlessly warmed this this cold, winter morning, so I thought I'd pass it along to you.

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. (Hardly seems worth it.)

If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. (Now that's more like it!)

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet. (O.M.G.!)

A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes. (In my next life, I want to be a pig.)

A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death.(Creepy.)

(I'm still not over the pig.)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour. (Do not try this at home.. Maybe at work.)

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off. ("Honey, I'm home. What the....?!") 

The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field. (30 minutes... lucky pig.. can you imagine??) 

The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. (What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?)

Some lions mate over 50 times a day. (I still want to be a pig in my next life...quality over quantity)

 Butterflies taste with their feet. (Something I always wanted to know.)

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. (Hmmmmmm........)

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people. (If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?) 

Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (OK, so that would be a good thing....)

A cat's urine glows under a black light. (I wonder who was paid to figure that out?)

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that.)

Starfish have no brains. (I know some people like that too.)

Polar bears are left-handed. (If they switch, they'll live a lot longer.) 

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. (What about that pig??)

Thanks Lady Gabe.  You made my day.

Enjoy the daffodils peeping through the snow folks, springs just around the corner.

Haven't slept all night.  Can't sleep.  Can't turn my head off.  Too much thinking.  Old demons battle within my mind tonight.  Old wounds open and bleed.  I think perhaps the cause is that tomorrow marks an anniversary of sorts for me.  It was on Feb. 2, in the year 2000, that I loaded up the kid, dogs, and whatever else that I could fit into the car that was the boy's and mine, and fled the Pharaoh to my family only to discover that they didn't want us either.  Perhaps that's the reason for my deep depression lately.  I hadn't thought of it until tonight as I read an entry posted by one of my xanga friends who shared a common story of escape this month. 

I'm not so much depressed about the breakup as I am about the loss of what could have been.  I wasted a lot of years trying to make someone love me who was incapable of doing so.  I wasted a lot of years trying to be someone I'm not because I believed (or was made to believe) that I was to blame for others unhappiness.  Not only did my husband throw away my love, so did my family.  I hated myself to the point of self distruction because of people who used the withholding of affection as a means of control.  They used cruel words as a means of breaking my spirit and my mind, and it damned near worked.  What cowards they were.  I have to remember that.  I have to remember how miserable I once was.  And how different it all is now. 

Sure, I still wonder what it is about me that makes it so easy for the people I love to throw me away.  I still get scared sometimes.  I get scared that I can't make it on my own like my father said.  I get scared that I'll never be loved like I need to be loved.  I get scared that I can't get a decent job and I'll have to spend the rest of my life at Hell on the Hill (that may be the scariest thing of all ).  But you know what?  I'm making it, little by little, on my own.  I'm back in school so that I can get a better job one day.  And who knows, perhaps one day I may find someone brave enough, and strong enough, to love me the way I need to be loved.  Someone who won't throw me away.  But if I don't, it's okay.  I can be alone.  Truth be told, I kind of like not having to answer to anyone and being able to come and go as I please.  I also have a wonderful son that I'm so very proud of.  Not only is he a great man, but he's a great friend.  The future looks a little brighter at the end of that long, dark tunnel.  I'm slowly beginning to see a little light.  I'm getting stronger every day.  Healing bit by bit.  I know this now.  No matter how bad it is, it's still much, much better than it was.  So, have a smoke or drink a toast for me on this my anniversary.  I celebrate a new life.  The ole sparrow's testing her wings and loving the feel of them.

As my old friend Mr. Frost says, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,--/ I took the road less traveled by,/ And that has made all the difference."

All that said, I think I'll turn in and get some sleep.  Well...until the cat wakes me anyway.  Hugs to you all and kisses to your boo boos.