A Royal Wedding makes one think............

To whom it may concern,

 

I spent 13 years of my life "settleing".  I settled when it came to my relationship.  I settled when it came to my actual wedding.  I even settled each Friday night choosing a resturant to eat at.  I can't do this anymore.  I have come to a point in my life where I have to stand up for what I want.  I have to make changes in myself to be more appealing to the type of man that I believe I am worth having.  I am in the process of making huge changes in my life.  I want to be a better person, not just for that next relationship but for everyone I come in contact with including my family and friends.  I have given a great deal of thought to it and have deceided that I would compile a list of the things im looking for in a future partner.  The list will more than likely be updated and edited frequently. I thought I would start off with a list of questions that I could use to break the ice.

 

Top 100 Questions to Ask Your Boyfriend

1. How do you visualize your future?
2. Which experience would you say is the turning point of your life?
3. What has been the most important decision in your life?
4. Do you have any enemies? Why?
5. Where would you like to go for your honeymoon?
6. What has been your most embarrassing moment?
7. What do you do when you are bored?
8. How do you spend time with your family?
10. What is your definition of intimate?
12. What are your future financial plans?
13. What is your biggest goal in life?
14. What is your favorite book?
15. Describe yourself in 3 words?
16. Tell me your 3 weaknesses.
17. Who is your hero?
18. What is the most important thing in life?
19. What would be your questions to ask on a first date?
20. What are your bad habits?
21. What is your point of view of the world?
22. What would you do to leave an impression on the girl on your first date?
23. How would you describe the perfect life?
24. What has been your most intimate experience?
25. Who has been your most intimate partner?
26. Do you still have feelings for an ex partner?
27. How long did your most intimate relationship last?
32. Would you rather follow your heart or your head?
34. How would you react if I told I have had a relationship with a partner of the same sex?
35. How and when would you know if I am the right one?
36. Do you believe in God?
37. Have you voted for someone you wished you hadn't?
38. What hobbies do you spend money on?
39. Have to ever experimented with drugs?
40. What do you think is the key to good parenting techniques?
41. Would you like to have pets in the house?
42. What is the most weirdest thing about you?
43. Tell me something about your first kiss.
44. If your parents don't like me for some reason, what are you willing to do about it?
45. Have you ever regretted one of your 'romantic encounters'?
46. Do you believe in soulmates?
48. What is your dream job?
50. Which celebrity/author/singer would you like to know (if you get a chance)? And why?
52. If you could meet a famous person, living or dead, whom would you like to meet?
53. Who is you favorite fictional character and why?
54. Do you prefer reading books or watching movies?
55. What do you think is your biggest regret?
56. What do you think, does your ideal vacation look like?
57. Which is your favorite movie?
58. If you are allowed to do just only one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
59. What is the one thing about you that you take pride in?
60. What is the most courageous thing you have ever done in your life?
61. What is your first memory?
62. What do you like most about you?
64. What would you want to do to live your life differently?
67. What are you looking for in a relationship? In the long term or short term?
68. If you have three wishes, what do would you wish for?
69. Which is the song that makes you happy?
70. If you could be a superpower, what would be your superpower?
72. Which movie makes you cry no matter how many times you watch it?
73. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
74. What is the best advice you ever received?
75. What kind of music you like?
76. Why did your last relationship break?
77. Are you still friends with her?
78. What was the best and the worst moment you spent with her?
79. What are the craziest things that you've done?
80. Where do you see yourself in ten years from now?
81. If you could go on a road trip where would you go?
83. What is your favorite memory of your family?
85. What are your expectations from your better half?
87. What is your topmost ambition in life?
93. What are your views on open relationships?
96. What is it that you are passionate about?
97. If you have to be in a long distance relationship, are you willing to fight it out?

Here's a list of 20 serious questions to ask your boyfriend, and find out what you mean to him.

3. Do you have any close female friends, other than me and any of your female family members?
4. Do you have feelings for any of your ex-girlfriends or a best friend who you liked in the past?
5. Everyone has regrets about their past. Which is the one thing in your past you would like to change?
6. How do you think you would react if you found out I was cheating on you?
15. What did you think of me, when we first met (be honest)?
17. What do you think is the best quality in me, which attracts you?
18. What is that one thing in me, which you would like to change if given a chance?

Take a look at some of these questions you can ask on a first date.

• What do you do in your spare time?

10 questions to get to know someone better which can actually serve as first date conversation starters that can help you have a great date.

1. What is the main thing that makes you unique?
2. Do you have a nickname? What is it?
5. Name one thing that many people don't know about you?
6. Do you have any phobias?
7. What's the craziest thing that you've done?
8. What is your worst dating experience?
9. Name three exotic countries you would like to visit?
10. If you could have three wishes granted what would they be?

• If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
• If asked to visit just one place before you die, where would you go and why?
• What according to you is success?
• What do you like about yourself?
• Which are those 5 things that we will always find in your room?
• Which is your favorite TV program?
• What is that one thing you would love to do before you die?
• Have your past relationships taught you anything?
• If you win a lottery of 1 million dollars, how would you spend it?
• What is or are your worst habit(s)?

• What makes for a perfect woman?
• If you could change one thing in your past, what would it be?
• If you could go anywhere in the world, which place would you choose?

Now....let's find out if I get any answers from these questions....

The Devil's Tramping Ground

The Devil's Tramping Ground

Chatham County, NC

For our assignment in Magic, Media, and Popular Imagination we were asked to work on a Visual Narrative Project.  This project is to help us in the "exploration of visual form and expression, encouraging each student to develop a personal aesthetic while exploring the supernatural of the visual image and how the order of visual images creates story."  I realize that I just copied word for word what our Professor wrote in the syllabus however, 5 years down the road, if I keep this blog and continue with it's posts, Id like to know what I was writing about.  I tend to forget things easily.  I am going with the documentary style in my visual narrative project.  We were asked to find a physical location that claimed to be haunted or possibly had something to do with witchcraft.  I knew exactly what I was going to do my project on.  My father grew up in Chatham County, NC.  One legend there that dates back to long before anyone can remember is the legend of The Devil's Tramping Ground.  It is said that the Devil himself walks this barren circle in the woods of Harper's Crossing and comes up with all of his evil plans while doing so.  Legend has it that no one has been able to stay there for an entire night without getting spooked and leaving quickly.  Folklore says that if anything, including a tent you might try to sleep in, is left on this circle that it will be moved upon wakening.  Let's take a trip through the Devil's Tramping Ground and see what evidence we can find.....

The Devil's Tramping Ground is located at Harper's Crossing in Chatham County, NC.  It sits about 50 feet off of the road.  There is a path from the road to the actual circle.  The path itself is dirt and mud but I also noticed a good amount of quartz rock along the path.  I came to this site as a child.  I must have been 8 or 9 years old.  I remember my father drove, my mom was in the passenger seat, my sister and myself were in the backseat.  My father and I were the only ones to get out of the car and go see the site.  I made fun of my older sister for being scared but she claimed she just didn't want to walk in the mud.  Yea, right.  I didn't remember that amount of rocks from my first visit but it is possible that I simply forgot.  When you arrive at the path and pull your car over, the first thing you notice is a sign.  Placed there by the family that owns the land, the Robert Dowd family.  The sign was not there when I first visited the site.  It had been added in the past 20 years.  What seemed strange though, was what was written on that sign....

                                                                              
                                                                         Welcome
                                                         The Chatham County Vortex
                                      This site is the famous energy vortex historically called

                                                         The Devil's Tramping Ground,
a privately-owned parkland of The Robert Dowd Family.  Visitors to the park are asked to respect the park, its plants, trees, birds and other animals living here and do not cut trees or hunt the animals.  Please do not leave bottles, cans, trash or other litter because it will spoil the experience here for other visitors.  And please do not set fires or conduct inappropriate activities here.  A Magdalene Crystal Column of energy is anchored on this site.  The very high vibrating energy helps to balance masculine and feminine energies, strengthen harmony and expand human consciousness.

I googled the phrase "magdalene crystal column" & found this website;
                                                      http://magdalenecrystalcolumns.com/

I read it but it means absolutely nothing to me.  I included the website address so that you could view it on your own time and see if it makes any sense to you.  Please feel free to post in the comments section if you were able to make heads or tails of the site. 

and so I began my journey down the well worn trail towards the barren circle that is the Devil's Tramping Ground...

There was a news broadcast about this site.  I have included the http://www.youtube.com version for your viewing.

You would think that something like this would be marked or somehow labeled.  The sign I posted earlier is the only marking to the site and it was added just a few short months ago while this site has been legend for over 100 years.  The circle itself is 40 feet by 40 feet.  It is completely open with nothing growing on the circle at all.  The circle is surrounded by trees, bushes, rocks and leaves.  In the fall and winter, leaves do blow onto the cleared circle but they do not seem to stay there very long.  I made contact with the Robert Dowd Family who owns this land to get their direct information on the site and see if they could tell me why it was that no one could stay there overnight and why nothing ever grew on the circle.  Robert Dowds daughter Tamera Owens got back with me and gave me their version of the story which I will get to later in this blog...

Each time I visited the Tramping Ground or have seen any photos of it, there have always been two very large logs laying in the very center of the circle somewhat charred and burned.  This visit proved no different.  There are several smaller branches scattered around but you could almost place bets that you will absolutely see the two large logs.  They are not parallel or perpendicular but one log does lay on top of the other.  Whether this is some type of marker to show the center of the circle or a place to show visitors where to light their own fire, I wouldn't know.  I can only say that I have always seen logs there whether in real life or photos.

 You can see that there was a fire that had been burning the previous evening.  There were no signs of anyone still at the site when we arrived however there were a few "clues" left behind.  The fire had not been put out.  Smoke was still rising from the charred remains.  We also found a crushed beer can, a Halloween type "monster glove" as well as tent stakes without the tent.  You can see this in the following images.

the glove and crushed beer can...

the tent stakes but there was no tent with them...

We arrived at the Devil's Tramping Ground around 9:30am.  If there had been someone there the night before who left the glove and tent stakes, they were gone by the time we got there....or possibly they never made it through the night, leaving some of their things behind upon their quick departure....

My son traveled there with me.  He was curious about the site he had read about in NC Haunting books.  As we were walking back to the car, he told me that he didn't think it was that impressive.  I wonder if his opinion would change if we were out there during the night.

I was able to interview a few of the townspeople to find out if they had any experiences at the Devil's Tramping Ground.  Sure enough, I got lucky and it seemed as if every one's story was basically the same.  Jim McMillan who is now 67 years old told me the story of how he and some of his high school buddies took camping equipment out there to test the theory of whether or not things would be moved off of the circle during the night; including the tent.  Unfortunately, they did not last the entire night.  He told of how it felt like the animals in the woods were carrying on their own conversations that night.  He recalled how he had never experienced crickets and owls so loudly before.  This ended up scaring the young boys and they jumped into their car to drive away.

I did mention that I would tell you what the land owner's claims were regarding this historic spot.  Tamera Owen's stated that " the way I've always understood it was that it was in the center of four or five Indian tribes and they would meet in this location and do there dancing in what is now the circle." This is the explanation as to why the circle never grew any vegetation.  It is said that the Spirits of those Native Americans are still held fast within that soil and that they still meet each night to dance in the circle.

I hope you enjoyed our tour through Chatham County's Devil's Tramping Ground.  It might be possible that I brought you some new insight on the place and stirred up some interest that you also might want to visit there. 

Thanks so much,

Leanne Ortiz

January 14, 2011

I always revert to journals whether they be hand written or online at the beginning of the year.  It must be a sense of starting fresh, a new beginning.  I wish there was a way to go back to all my journals and string them together into a somewhat senseless novel.  Im sure it is interesting enough to sale.  This journal however, has a point.  It's for my class, Magic, Media, and Pop Culture.  What could be more fun?  I think this class will be very interesting.  I try to keep myself on the tip of media and pop culture.  I watch my fair share of Inside Edition and Entertainment Tonight.  I am currently single, mother of a 12 year old son, and currently a junior at UNCG.  I love reading, listening to my IPOD, and excercising when I can find the time.  I dig tattoos and piercings and everyone's ability to live freely.  Im looking forward to this semester and this assignment.

Each student will submit a photograph of himself or herself along with a personal statement outlining his or her concerns about the current directions or perceived emphases in popular culture.
As far as popular culture in today's time....it feels like it's exploding.  We have so many outlets to connect us to celebrities, the entertainment world and each other.  With software like Facebook, Twitter and Skype, we can easily access where and what our friends or favorite celebrities are doing.  Words like "I'll friend you", "goggle it" and "find me on facebook" are parts of our everyday language.  Its hard to believe that when my parents were growing up, they didnt have a television.  When I was growing up, a vcr was the coolest thing to have and now vcr's are not even used anymore.  Everything has become more high tech and more accessible with the advancements of the computer.  It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 20 years.