Shelley's Home Page

In the dark of night, a mist rose from the lake. Johnny and Sally had told their parents they would be back by 11:00PM, but it was nearly 11:30. They had hiked the parameter of the lake and were considering going back but Sally had lost her Grandmother's scarf and they had spent 40 minutes running around in circles trying to recover it. Finally, when then dark blue piece of cloth had reappeared in a stump they had been playing around on, they decided they were tired and more than ready to go. Above, an owl sent a deep tone into the silence. Johnny looked at Sally. "Is it this trail?" he asked. He wasn't quite sure. Sally, slightly taken aback by the fact that Johnny was looking to her for guidance, thought not wanting to appear flustered, pointed to the general direction she supposed was the way back and with that self-initiated gesture, increased her own confidence and came out with, "Alright, we're going." Johnny was more than happy to follow. He was getting rather cold.


Sally bounded off, warding off her insecurities by simply walking fast. Johnny piped, "Hey.. wait up. Why are you going so fast?" "Because I'm cold." she replied. "Well, I'm cold too." he countered. "Really? Well that's helpful." Sally replied with sarcasm. Johnny never really cared for Sally's sarcasm, but at least she had slowed down enough to talk to him. They proceeded. The trail was fairly well marked out, a few loose shrubs fallen here and there due to gradual erosion from the mountain on the sloping side. A beer can suddenly appeared in front of their feet. "What the heck?" mused Sally aloud. "Sorry, it fell out of my backpack," offered Johnny. Sally gave him a look of pathetic acknoledgment. "I'm kidding!" he said. "Okay fine I think its strange too" He could guess what Sally was probably thinking. He hoped he'd known her for long enough to read most of the signs.


All of a sudden the beer can morphed into a large octopus-like creature. Sally screamed. "Run for your life!" yelled Johnny. They took off through the forest, tennis shoes pounding into the dirt. Soon they started breathing rather heavily. "Hey, I thought you said you were in good shape." countered Sally. "I was out for the last week because of my ankle, don't you remember?" replied Johnny. "Oh yeah" said Sally, but by this time she wasn't paying that much attention and was getting tired of running. "I think we've eluded it by now, wouldn't you say?..... Johnny?.... Johnny?" But Johnny was nowhere to be seen. Now that's odd, thought Sally. He was just behind me. Suddenly, from behind a tree, Johnny peeped his head out. "Jeesh, I thought you'd left me there for a second" said Sally. "I wouldn't leave you Sally, I.... I.." He was about to say something else, but decided to explain himself instead. "Alright, what we saw could have just been a product of our imagination. Maybe its not what we thought it was. And there's no proof it came from the beer can." That's true, thought Sally. Maybe it doesn't matter that much anymore. "Maybe it was an owl.... a really big owl. And some tree branches falling." she thought aloud. "Its kind of hard to tell in the dark," put in Johnny. "Anyhow, let's just get out of here." And sure enough, around the next bend, they could see the lights of home. "Hooray!" exclaimed Sally. "Now that wasn't so bad. Let's see if auntie's still up." Johnny nodded and followed her in.

Chap. 2


Auntie was up. She wasn't just up, she was running around the house, cleaning and scrubbing like a wildwoman. Sally and Johnny exchanged looks. "Auntie?" Sally hesitated. "Leave the house, do not come any closer. This house is contaminated!" sputtered her aunt. "What?" spurted an innerved Sally. "Where's Mom and Dad?.. where's Godzilla?" Godzilla was their dog. Her question was abruptly answered by a knock at the door. Surprise, surprise, it was mom and dad. "Come on you guys, jump in the car. Its time to go." Sally and Johnny looked at each other, relieved to escape from the weirdness. An hour later they were sailing down highway 311, walkmans in their ears, content to return to a happy, technology-filled world. Little did they know the technology bug would soon cause them more harm than good.


The next morning, Johnny having been dropped off at his Grandma's across town, Sally came as usual to knock on his door for them to head off to school together.
[to be continued]...

My e-mail: ElenaSSM@yahoo.com
My ICQ: 14420459
Major: Russian and East European Studies
Concentration: Regional Studies
B.A., University of Oregon, Class of 2001

Occupation: Flight Attendant, (based in Newark, NJ)
Schooling: Airline Reservations and Airport Services Diploma from

Drifting- click here to download -copyright SSM 2000

Will add other clips soon. This above link should work now. Hope you like it!

I have debated the concept of whether or not to put pictures of myself on here, ... and I have decided to finally cave... below is a picture of me at the Kourion Ruins near Limassol, Cyprus. It was truly amazing. I hope I can go back someday.

Advice of the day: Never save a Microsoft Word file on a Mac and expect the next computer you happen to pop in at to convert it for you ever so convienently.

My ten-year plan:
1. Become ten years older (that shouldn't be too hard)
2. Live in a house, perhaps with a male, perhaps with a llama
3. Have the "patter of little feet" in my life, and hopefully not the patter of liquid dripping all over the floor because I accidentally left the orange juice out.
4. Have an established career, basically where I'm the head of the company, and many underlings work for me in the simple hopes of me dropping a smile and a shiny coin their way.
5. Travel abroad yearly, if not live abroad. What is this word, "abroad"? Rather like, "aboard", or sadly, "a broad" (sp?) Braad? Brawed? I'm confused now.
6. "Be a better, giving, kindler, gentler person" Be like George Bush?
7. I'd like to adhere to that twenty-something fantasy where we finish our degree, apply to grad school, and spend the rest of our lives in a cave writing;)
8. I'd like to wake up every morning to the smell of eggs and bacon being cooked by my husband, fax off a few proposals to corporate in New York before heading off to the office. Kiss him on the cheek and whiz out the door, leave early to pick up Emily and Jeffery at the daycare, go to the park and eat ice cream, come home and do some gardening, go out for some "one-on-one" time to dinner and a movie with my significant other and.... oh wait that's too cliche. Does this really happen?
9. Stay in shape. Actually I cannot emphasize this enough. I do not ever want to become old and frail. Exercise is the best thing a person can do for oneself. Give the gift of endorphins.
10. Be an established performer with a CD on the market. (this is perhaps feasible; I am on my way there).
And there you have it, folks! Hail the dawn of the new millenium!
[cue theme music and angelic voices]
... where the world goes in directions it has never gone before and the 1900's are washed away. The 1900's!! :)

Alright, I have read so many Blair Witch Project reviews I am going to offer a little one myself. What IS BWP?

BWP is how every movie from this point forward should be made. I want to see more improv, more realistic footage, more try-to-figure-it-out movies being made out there. The beauty of BWP is you get to try to figure out what they edited out and why they kept what they had. I read this interview where Michael contended that there was footage on him "really" going crazy but they decided not to include that. ...???:) I also liked how this movie utilized the third-party mediator motif. Heather and Josh fought; Michael intervened. Heather and Mike fight; Josh intervenes. Hmm.. but maybe Josh and Mike don't really fight that much. Actually, they kind of gang up on Heather. When they all fight at first you're like "whoa" but then after a while you have to sit back and laugh. At least its raw human emotion(well, and at least they didn't really kill each other... or did they? j/k:)) What if we hear Heather's voice the whole time but its not really her holding the camera? What if the entire thing was doctored and these were just three people who wanted to camp in the woods who were ordered to make a documentary against their will but pretended like they enjoyed it?

All things considered, I'm inspired. I want to make a movie. My movie will be called: The Raw Fish Project

People walk around Eugene continually running into pieces of Raw Fish. Things get more and more freaky as they are finally forced to eat it. Then we cut into a dream sequence where people swim through the water seeing the fish before they become raw and feel compassion for them. Then they wake up to discover they can't breathe in the living air any more and flop dead on the floor. Footage was later turned in to the PADI dive shop. This movie would basically star my sister and her friends:) alright, its time for beddy-bye. nighty night y'all

--ssm 4.7.00

"We cry out in expressive joy of liberty and freedom, and then return dutifully to our slave-labor jobs and/or undergraduate reqs";)

10.10.00
Hey, for anyone who actually reads this, I'm in Russia! Yeah, I'm finally here after all this time I can't believe it. And it is definitely an amazing country. I am learning so much of the language and living with a host family so I have the opportunity to practice it on a daily basis. Things are much more advanced(at least in St. Petersburg) than people probably realize. The economy has improved considerably in the last few years and I think people are at least optimistic with Putin in power. He isn't quite so demonstrative as Yeltsin. But of course people miss the old regime too, believe it or not. Many old old relics are preserved here, it is simply daunting. It really makes you realize how young America is. Once you get into the swing of things, and if you can speak the language, it is kind of romantic and quaint. I like that aspect. If I can figure out how, I will try to post a picture or two. I'm scheduled to be here until next May, and then will graduate from the UO(finally!);) Bcego dobrogo! (best wishes) ~Shelley

Hello, listeners! I just thought I'd write an update because well... I'm bored!:) I've been in Russia for a while now. I'm kind of getting used to it. The new semester is starting and I think its going to be really different from last semester. I really miss the poeple from last semester. They were all really great. Its really cold here. I'm currently looking for a job but we'll see how things go. I feel like my language skills are improving but sometimes you have to get in the right conversational conditions. I might take a modern dance class here soon, we'll see how things go. ANyway, wish you all the best in whatever you do, and take care. -sssm 19.01.01

PHOTOS FROM SPRING BREAK TRIP TO CYPRUS(MARCH 2001)!!:

Larnaca International Airport

click here for picture

Inland and Along the NW Coastline

Me at the Kourion Ruins

View of city of Limassol from Limassol Castle

PHOTOS OF RUSSIA 2000-2001!!:
Downtown St. Petersburg, Russia along Nevsky Prospect

World War II Memorial Gate in S. Petersburg

Smolnyi Cathedral, part of St. Petersburg State University, where Center for Russian Language and Culture is located(where I studied for two semesters)

St. Isaac's Cathedral-- Marvelous Old Cathedral in downtown St. Petersburg on west end of Nevsky

Group playing Red Rover to pass time in Pskov:)

Debbie looking contemplative by castle in Pskov and Pushkin memorial

BIG HELLO to Mark, Matt, Ben, Cassie, Courtney, Tracy, Jen, Melissa, Alan, Gillian, and all the rest of the gang who made my second semester in Russia the special experience that it was(no cheez intended).

My homepage will be officially be moved here as of Sept. 30th, 2001. My old homepage is

Thanks for stopping by!! --SSM



Last updated 04-25-05