Hello and thank you for checking out my profile.
I first joined this community as a way to stalk my local friends and then, like a new roller skater at a rink, slowly left the wall and merged into the threads where I was delighted to find a selection of witty, wonderful and like minded folks with whom I've managed to truly connect with.

This place has become a second community for me...a cyberhome town if you will and I continue to enjoy the creative minds and generous people I "meet".

Sadly, just like in real life I cannot become friends with the entire community of tribes and don't have the energy to visit every individual tribe that exists...

In that vein please understand that while I love to visit I am careful to only accept friendship offers from those I'm familiar with or have chatted with in the threads and have no interest in "collecting" friends for the sake of collecting...that's not what people are for.

Additionally, if you invite me to a tribe and I do not join please don't be upset ... I have limited time and have already made the mistake of joining a few too many, which I've had to cull back...which makes me feel bad when I have to say goodbye to nice folks because I can't keep up.
So, if you took the time to come read this...and we've chatted before and you think we will hit it off by all means please send the invite...if you just want to collect me...move along...I'm a real person...the Icon is just an Icon...not a stamp. :-)

Thank you and good travels. Paidia

Insomnia is a gross feeder. It will nourish itself on any kind of thinking, including thinking about not thinking. ~Clifton Fadiman


Tough and funny and a little bit kind: that is as near to perfection as a human being can be. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. ~Mother Teresa

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
~ Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain)

I don't like to commit myself about heaven and hell -- you see, I have friends in both places." - Mark Twain


"I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister. That is a political statistic."
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)


Enduring habits I hate.... Yes, at the very bottom of my soul I feel grateful to all my misery and bouts of sickness and everything about me that is imperfect, because this sort of thing leaves me with a hundred backdoors through which I can escape from enduring habits. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, 1882

When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something's suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful. ~Barbara Bloom

There is no education like adversity. ~Disraeli


He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

Diseases can be our spiritual flat tires - disruptions in our lives that seem to be disasters at the time but end by redirecting our lives in a meaningful way. ~Bernie S. Siegel

Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive. ~Josephine Hart

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.
Some come from ahead and some come from behind.
But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!
~Dr. Seuss

“You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.”

Did you ever stop to taste a carrot? Not just eat it, but taste it? You can't taste the beauty and energy of the earth in a Twinkie. ~Astrid Alauda
If organic farming is the natural way, shouldn't organic produce just be called "produce" and make the pesticide-laden stuff take the burden of an adjective? ~Ymber Delecto

It would be nice if the Food and Drug Administration stopped issuing warnings about toxic substances and just gave me the names of one or two things still safe to eat. ~Robert Fuoss

He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise. ~Henry David Thoreau

A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch. ~James Beard

If God dropped acid, would he see people? ~Steven Wright

Reality is a crutch for people who can't cope with drugs. ~Lily Tomlin

I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police. ~Keith Richards

God made pot. Man made beer. Who do you trust? ~Graffiti

Cocaine is God's way of saying you're making too much money. ~Robin Williams

Drugs are very much a part of professional sports today, but when you think about it, golf is the only sport where the players aren't penalized for being on grass. ~Bob Hope

There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. ~Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith

Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very;" your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark Twain

Ink and paper are sometimes passionate lovers, oftentimes brother and sister, and occasionally mortal enemies. ~Emme Woodhull-Bäche

A Short History of Medicine
2000 B.C. - "Here, eat this root."
1000 B.C. - "That root is heathen, say this prayer."
1850 A.D. - "That prayer is superstition, drink this potion."
1940 A.D. - "That potion is snake oil, swallow this pill."
1985 A.D. - "That pill is ineffective, take this antibiotic."
2000 A.D. - "That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root."
~Author Unknown