Hello, My name is Hijole and I'm a cacti and succulent addict, my succulent of choice is Echeverias but I will stop to look at any type of species. I thought when I saw this "Succulents Anonymous" thread THATS it!!! I'm an addict and my habbit is way... out of control. It is to the point that I'm out of space to collect more or propagate but still find myself on a hunt for the next batch of cuttings, purchases and yes sometimes I pinch a piece off here and there. Sometimes I even come home with new ones and have to hide them so that no one notices what I came home with. I realize this addiction has taken a hold of my life especially when every pay check I ALWAYS seem to find a reason to pick up another Succlent or two or three... What is it with these plants that would make a man go out of his way to buy a plant, or spend his entire day off planting and repotting his collection of succulents. At first I wrote it off saying, I could quit anytime I wanted to but the truth was obvious, I'm hooked. And this thing is in my blood, I found some pictures of when I was little and my Mother used to have quite a collection herself until my father practically had most of them removed from her garden. "Thats right!!! Cold turkey". fortunately for me my wife is very supportive and is standing next to me durring this moment of my life. In the past she would tell me that I was obsessed with my yard which of course I denied until one day the City where I Live awarded me an award for beautifying the city of Corona, ca. That was it, BUSTED!!! My wife sat me down and said, you see hijole No one wins an award like that unless there obsessed with their yard. I was still in denial and shook it off but soon there after I found myself thinking about where I would get my next fix, and I started looking for organizations that were having meetings for cacti and succulent shows in my area where I eventually found a collection I never saw before, I thought WOW!!! a whole new world of differents types of succulents Aloes and OMG no more room to put them what am I doing here! This was completely out of control... Well here I am and I'm still collecting thank God my wife is still next to me and actually helping me and it was while reading this site that I finally realized, They're discribing me here. I'm hook, I'm an adict, So where are you guys holding meetings if any and will there be succulents on site to view ( just to look at ) Lol this is funny but it's a confession of a true addict who loves succulents and can't stop buying these plants no matter if I have room for them or not I'll find somewhere for them. Hijole

A large part of the problem has arien frm the 'electronic recording' of note. Instead of actually shuffling paper, an electronic database is used to 'record' ownership of the notes. This was done to speed yup sale of the notes, and avoid the recording fees jurisdictions require to actually record the ownership of the note at the court house. There have been hints of problems dating back a couple years. Dutsche Bank created a shell company to securitize notes and issue bonds backed by the notes. They then wanted to save even more money and rolled the shell company into Dutsche Bank. When they then tried to foreclose on some defaulted notes, the court required them to prove they actually owned the notes. All they had was ownership of the bonds, the notes were still in the name of the dissolved shell company. It would be like you purchasing a Fannie Bond, and then claiming the right to foreclose a note 'included' in the bond. You own a bond from Fannie, NOT the underlying notes. Fannie owns the notes, and they are the one who must foreclose. The electronic recording database is a private company, set up just to make buying and selling of the notes faster and less expensive. Some courts have allowed the company status as the 'owner' of the notes, others have taken issue. For may years the whole thing was handled on paper. Each seller added a transfer of the note ownership to the paper file, and then had the new ownership recorded at the appropriate court. This 'hampered' the secondary market, so the recording database was created. At least some of the title insurance companies have had some heartburn with the lack of public record. Only the actual owner of a note can release the note (or someone they directly designate like a settlement company for sales). With ownership of the note not clearly and publicly recorded, how is anyone to judge if the release on full payment is valid? Just as with a quit claim deed, you can only convey your actual interest in a property. A quit claim for the Empire State building I might give you conveys nothing, since I have no interest in the Empire State building. In the name of faster they have managed to cause clouds on titles that may take some time to unwind, and in the meantime owners who have defaulted will escape foreclosure until the courts are satisfied with clear ownership of the notes (and not simply a bond backed by the note).

Notes on "The Go-Between" by L. P. Hartley (1953). "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there." Well written, this novel focuses on the memory of an elderly man who is reflecting on the summer of his twelfth year which he spent at the home of a wealthy family of one of his school friends. (Another bildungsroman, it seems.) It's contrasted strongly with his own home life (which is poorer) and Leo, the protagonist, is acutely aware of the "right" things to do and say. It's also a balance between the social codes of his boarding school (which he and his friend attend) and what is appropriate for this summer visit. It's a rather fraught novel, I think, which has the overall impression of impending doom. (This is clearly mentioned on the back blurb though, so not giving the game away.) Hartley has done an excellent job of seeing through the eyes of a twelve year old at the beginning of the twentieth century in England. His recollections of how he viewed the world were spot on (to me), and his lush descriptions of endless summer days during school holidays is perfectly accurate: lengthy days, lassitude, and not much to do except mess around. Perhaps I had an odd childhood in the 1970's, but this was very close to how I remember my childhood growing up (although it might be burnished with the glow of memory.) These endless days of summer are also a great conduit for illustrating the impending doom (uncertain though that may be). The increasing temperatures (checked daily by the protagonist on the outbuilding's thermometer) links with the perceived increasing pressure of whatever news is to come, and thunderstorms hang in the air like heavy clouds. It's really well done. Leo is very interested in things of an astral nature: the signs of the Zodiac, his nickname of Mercury (the messenger in Roman mythology who wore winged sandals) and he half-believes that he has the power to control external forces such as the weather and sometimes other people's behavior and choices through magical curses (or spells, but mostly curses). The title comes mostly from the fact that Leo is tasked with taking messages between the young lady of the house and a local farmer, a totally unsuitable match that can only be conducted in secret. At first, Leo feels privileged to have been asked, but as the summer progresses and things get more complicated, it becomes a burden and a political minefield. The reader also learns the event that caused all the upheaval and led to a troubled adult life for Leo, but I shall say nothing here. (Don't want to give the story away. Suffice to say, it's good.) The Go-Between could also be interpreted to mean Leo's having to move between social classes, uncertain of how he should behave with whom (not only with him having to adapt to the higher social class, but also having to balance his friendship with the local farmer, a working class guy. And class was everything at this time.) ...

I have two sayings that irritate me. One, which I have only ever read or heard from Americans, is 'I could care less' which clearly means the opposite of what the person is trying to convey. The other is 'the proof is in the pudding' which is meaningless. 'The proof of the pudding is in the eating' clearly means you can only tell how good something is when you use it for its intended purpose. I would also say orientate - many of these things are Commonwealth usages, and what sounds right is directly related to what you heard growing up. 'In back' sounds weird to me, but 'in front' is fine. And I had a hard time stopping my two boys saying 'wait up' when I felt the 'wait for me' I'd always used to sound much better :) I would never use plate as a verb in my conversations but I think it is acceptable in a professional kitchen.