I’d like to do it weekly. Last week was a bit nuts and got away from me so I’m scrunching 10 days together in this inaugural tracking post.

May 3, 1962 - Trains collide near Tokyo: Two commuter trains and freight train collided. 160 people died. Double that was injured in the wreck.

May 4, 2002 – Nigerian plane crash in crowded city: An EAS airplane crashed in Kano, Nigeria. 148 people died. (All 76 passengers plus the remaining victims who were on the ground and burned to death in the resulting explosion.) Three full blocks of structures were destroyed.

May 4, 1886 – The Haymarket Square Riot: A labor rally turned deadly when a bomb was thrown at police trying to break it up. The police fired on the crowd. Several were killed. Over 100 were injured.

May 4, 1970 – National Guard Kills 4 at Kent State: National Guardsman fired on a group of anti-war demonstrators. 4 students killed, 8 wounded, another permanently paralyzed.

May 5, 1995 – Dallas Hail Storm: This surprise hail storm was the worst to hit the area in the century. Hail was the size of tennis balls to start. It was the flash flooding, not the hail, that left 17 dead, though. Interesting to note sentence from History.com entry: “Reportedly, items as large as frogs, worms and fruit have been swept up by updrafts and turned into hail.”

May 6, 1937 – Hindenburg Explosion: It was the largest dirigible ever built and 36 people died when it exploded near Lakehurst, New Jersey. But what made it iconic and significant was of the live radio broadcast of the event. There were 56 surivors.

On WLS radio, announcer Herbert Morrison gave an unforgettably harrowing live account of the disaster, “Oh, oh, oh. It’s burst into flames. Get out of the way, please . . . this is terrible . . . it’s burning, bursting into flames, and is falling . . . Oh! This is one of the worst . . . it’s a terrific sight . . .oh, the humanity.”

May 7, 1902 – Volcano buries Martinique city of Saint Pierre:Mount Pele started steaming on April 2, 1902. Residents ignored the warnings, thinking they only had to worry about lava. When it erupted, it burst out a cloud of gas with a temperature of more than 3,000 degrees and sent boiling ash down the side of the mountain. Saint Pierre was buried within minutes. Number of casualites was not specified on History.com article, but it was noted 2 people somehow survived. Also, 15 ships in the harbor capsized when the volcano exploded. One ship stayed afloat and half the crew survived, but had serious burns.

May 7, 1915 – Lusitania sinks: Without warning a German submarine torpedoed the British ocean liner Lusitania in the Celtic Sea. 1,959 passengers and crew were on board. 1,198 were drowned. Significant event during World War I.

May 8, 1950 – Flash floods in Nebraska kill 23: Most were caught by surprise and were trapped in their vehicles and drowned.

May 9, 2001 – Soccer stampede kills 126 in Ghana: Accra Stadium in Ghana. Police clash with rowdy fans, sparks a stampede. Was “the worst ever-sports-related disaster” in Africa at that time. (Um, I thought sporting events were spectator events? “Worst-ever sports-related disaster” should not be words that all go together.)

May 10, 1996 – Eight climbers die on Mount Everest during storm: It was the worse loss of life in a single day and sparked the bestselling book Into Thin Air. In total, 15 climbers died during the spring 1996 climbing season. (98 successfully completeed the climb that year.) From 1980 to 2002, 91 died attempting the climb.

May 11, 1934 – Dust storm sweeps from Great Plains to Eastern U.S.: Millions of tons of topsoil were swept from the Great Plains region to states in the East like New York, Boston and Atlanta. (Not sure if it was the start of the Dust Bowl time. April 15, 1935 came to be called “Black Sunday.”)

May 11, 1985 – 50 die in soccer stadium fire: Bradford, England. Fire was most likely started by a cigarete that ignited trash. Wooden roof over the stands caught fire. Some had no idea of the enormity of the situation. Reported some “danced and sang in front of the raging fire while others threw stones at a television crew.”

May 12, 1987 – Massive China wildfire claims 193 victims: The fire actually began on May 6, 1987 in Mohe County of the Heilongjiang Province. It was finally contained on this day, but didn’t totally burn out until May 27. It burned 2 1/2 million acres of land, destroyed 50,000 homes, hundreds were injured, and 193 people perished.

May 13, 1846 – Polk declares war on Mexico: Not quite a “disaster” but a significant event.

May 13, 1981 – Pope John Paul II shot: Again, not quite a “disaster” but a significant event worth noting.

May 13, 1972 – Club fire in Japan kills 118: The Playtown Cabaret in Osaka, Japan caught fire. Only 48 survived.

There were other factors at play last April, though, too. Planetary type of things. (It was also set to be a period of Mercury Retrograde, and Saturn was re-entering Virgo, which mostly had the potential to affect Virgos but perhaps influenced other factors too.)

I realize not all bad things happen in April. It just seems like April has more than it’s fair share of notable catastrophes.

That’s why I keep watching the Japanese nuclear reactor situation with such interest.  With April only a week away, I’m wondering if a meltdown is inevitable. Or something equally as catastrophic. (I don’t know all the nuclear terms for what can go wrong, but it sure seems to me that’s the path all that’s headed down.)

Last year I found it curious after I did an Internet search that I’m not the only one who believes April’s cursed. I keep threatening to do a study of which months have the most disasters to see if there’s something to it all, but I haven’t been that ambitious. I only get that way as April draws near.

But as I’m writing this I also wonder if it’s not just April, but something else I alluded to above. Did certain astrological influences influence April’s potency last year?

I wonder if anyone’s ever done a study on which stars were aligned how when certain bad things happened? Be it April or otherwise. That’d be interesting to look into also.

Hmmm…I’m certainly never at any shortage for project ideas, but this one keeps nagging at me. And apparently evolving. Now I’m curious to know not only if April is a cursed month, but what was happening astrologically when certain major events happened, be they in April or otherwise.

Oh boy. Another book idea has just been born.

#s 1 and 2: HAUNT JAUNTS RANKS AS AN EXPERT AND GETS AN AWARD

Rather than rewrite it all, I’ll just link to the post I wrote about this on Haunt Jaunts.

But in case you don’t want to click over, here’s the short version: HJ ranks #50 out of 118 experts on Sulia’s paranormal channel and one of HJ’s Twitter friends nominated the blog for a Shorty Award in Travel.

I’m not gonna lie. The recognition feels great!

#3: MASTER OF THE COURT

Then at Thursday’s tennis clinic the most amazing thing happened. We had just started doing a drill when Coach Beth stopped us and pulled us in.

My heart sunk because I was one of the ones in the middle of the drill. Worse, I had last touched the ball. My first thought was, “Aw man! What did I do wrong this time?” Because I’m always sure I’ve made a good example of something not to do. That’s happened more than I care to admit.

Not this time! I about fell over when Beth said, “Whoopsie (that’s my tennis nickname) is the only who’s mastered something. Can anyone tell me what?”

I sort of phased out for a moment as I did a mental rewind. Had she just said “mastered” and “Whoospie” in the same sentence?

Apparently she had. I then listened with keen interest as people started naming things I might’ve mastered. I had no clue. I had just done another of my trademark lobs before she stopped us and called us all in. I figured it had to do with that.

In part it did, but the point she was trying to drive home was I had mastered reading the court and knowing when to pull out certain shots, like lobs.

Huh? I was waiting for the punchline or the hidden camera reveal. I have never been singled out for doing something good before. Again, the recognition felt awesome!

Until I started thinking about the target on my back. The girls will be gunning for me now, itching to take me down and figure out how to take my lob opportunities away from me. I’ll have to come up with some new tricks and quick!

But it made for an exciting week. I’ll let myself bask in the glory for a moment before I buckle down and get back to just being me –a big ol’ Whoopsie at heart!

Paranormal enthusiasts know Cheeseman Park as a haunted park that was in part Steven Spielberg’s inspiration for Poltergeist.  I think that’s in part where my interest in ghosts and the macabre stemmed from. There was something there. An energy I didn’t understand but always felt. In fact, I used to have wicked crazy dreams about a ghost on Cheeseman’s third floor. Not only while I went to school there, but long after I graduated.

However, sometime in my 20s the dreams stopped. I figured I had outgrown them. Now I think they died when Cheeseman was torn down.

Ah, what a beautiful old brownstone it was. A man named Neil who went there when it was called The Peter Pan School left a comment on one of HJ’s posts about the school and brought back so many wonderful memories.

If there had been witches and wizards it sort of would’ve been like a Hogwarts. Smaller, but with as much character and personality.

When I talk to people who went there (because a couple of people have found my Haunt Jaunts post I guess from Googling Cheeseman), they remember it fondly too. It had a power. It was a remarkable place to go to school. (Have I said that already?)

I’d really love to capture other students memories of Cheeseman. And to collect any remaining photos that may exist of it. It’s such a shame it’s gone now. That is one place I would’ve loved to return to and get lost in the nostalgia.

But maybe I could do that if I made a documentary of it?

The thought keeps nagging me. We’ll see if it persists. If it does, maybe I just might give it a go!

I have been neglecting my poor personal blog again. Quite a while ago (we’re talking months), Jessica at Ghost Stories and Haunted Places was kind enough to pass the Beautiful Blogger Award on to my humble little Court’s Corner.

I decided I needed to hurry up and acknowledge it so I can pass along the award. (Even though I’m positive all the blogs I’m passing it to likely have already received it before.)

At any rate, thanks again, Jessica, for honoring Court’s Corner with such a nice nod.

Now on to the award process…

BEAUTIFUL BLOGGER AWARD RULES

1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.

I’m doing them a smidge out of order because I was always taught it’s impolite to talk about yourself first. (Never paid much mind to directions though.)

15 BLOGS COURT’S CORNER PASSES THE BEAUTIFUL BLOG AWARD TO:

1. A Baked Creation
2. A Fanciful Twist
3. Above the Norm
4. Candid Canine
5. Charli and Me
6. Cuisine Kathleen
7. fiberdoodles
8. Frog on the Pumpkin
9. Jade Walker’s Oddities
10. Maggie’s Station Stationery Blog
11. Marbella Jewelry Designs
12. Mommy D’s Kitchen
13. The Random Mind of Miss Julie
14. The Stiletto Gang
15. The Whimsical Cottage

7 THINGS ABOUT MYSELF:

1. I lived with two guys at the same time before I was married. (One was my boyfriend, who later became my husband, a.k.a. Wayne. The other was our gay roommate.)
2. Part of me regrets not studying meteorology in college. I’m fascinated by the weather. The Weather Channel is definitely one of my faves.
3. I have some form of IBS. Or something. Basically I carry all my emotions in my gut. If I get upset, too stressed or too excited, so does my tummy. It’s caused more emergency potty stops than I can count, and has put me in some pretty embarrassing situations. It’s why I’m always apprehensive about doing things with people for worry about how my tummy will behave. (Or not behave.)
4. I’m nuts for games: Wii (any kind of video games really), air hockey, Foosball, word searches, trivia, and especially find the difference between the pictures games.
5. I’ve always wanted to do a triathlon, but so far have never buckled down to give it a go. (And I’m not talking the Ironman kind Wayne does. I just want to do one of the mini kinds where you swim like 400 yards, bike 12 miles and run 2 or 3 miles.) Maybe I’ll shoot for that in 2011.
6. I believe I might’ve lived before and am curious about having a past life regression session.
7. People are always telling me what a great cartoon voice I have. I think it’d be fun to do voice overs for cartoon characters!

THE DREAM: GORILLA IN THE MIDST

I had one of those dreams that’s a combination of places I’ve lived. In this case, it was a combo of my current home and the one I grew up in, which I often refer to as the Akron Street house.

I dreamt of my neighbor’s tree across the street. The house looked like the neighbor’s house across from us now, which is on a corner, but the lot was the corner lot across from the Akron St. house.

There was a huge tree (maybe it was from the Jacksonville house neighborhood because there are no big trees here like that and certainly not in Denver). Something was falling out of the tree or being thrown and it caught my eye. (Like leaves coming down that shouldn’t be.)

I looked up and saw an enormous black creature. At first I was like, “Big foot is real!” All I could think was I had to run to get my camera because what a post that’d make for Haunt Jaunts!

But as I looked closer I realized it was a gorilla. Still, I needed to get my camera. A gorilla on the loose in a suburban neighborhood? What a story!

I got my camera and Murph came out with me right as the gorilla was climbing out of the tree. But there wasn’t just one. There were two. Baby was coming out of the tree, but Mama (a big ol’ mama at that!) was still up the tree.

But mama had her eye on Murph, who spotted baby, got all excited about making a new buddy and made a beeline for it.

All the National Geographic and Animal Planet shows I’d ever seen about moms being protective in the wild slammed my mind. I didn’t want to call out to Murph and cause any mama any undue alarm, but I didn’t want her viewing Murph as a  threat and attacking either.

So I started running to try and catch him, but as I did mama slipped down out of that tree. She headed toward Murph and her baby, but the baby was pointing at Murph all excited and went to pet him. Then mama kind of smiled (or that’s how it looked) and my heart kind of melted. It was clear she was thinking the baby making a friend with Murph was as cute as I thought it was.

Murph even went to say hi to her, then he kept going on one of his Sniff Missions, oblivious he was heading toward the busy street. Worse, baby was following. That’s when I started shouting for him to stop and come back, but he wasn’t listening. I think he was in bunny hunting mode.

I ran after him, and sort of skirted the outside of the mama gorilla, but even in my panicked state trying to catch Murph I still had “photo op” on the brain. As I dashed past her I flipped on the video function of my camera, pointed it in her direction and hoped I was getting some kind of footage of the gorilla on the loose.

But all the while I was yelling at Murph to come back. I yelled myself  awake trying to get him to listen to me.

7:30 A.M. REAL TIME: “NEW YORK’S CALLING…”

Okay, the dream was weird and left me shaken. I looked up “gorilla” in my dream book because that’s a new one. I don’t think I’ve ever dreamt about a gorilla before.

Here’s what my Dreamer’s Dictionary had to say about gorillas:

To dream of this frightening big ape portends a painful misunderstanding, unless the animal was very docile or definitely friendly, in which case the dream forecasts a very unusual new friend.

Before I could get too worked up today trying to figure out if I’d said anything to anyone that might be painfully misunderstood, the phone rang this morning at 7 a.m.

Wayne was watching TV and eating breakfast before work. He saw the caller I.D. on the screen.

“New York?” He groaned and ran to answer, figuring it was one of the New York office partners needing something.

This is what I heard: “Yes, Courtney Mroch lives here.” Pause. “She’s here now if you want to talk to her.”

To me he says, “New York’s calling…”

I don’t know anyone in New York, so I figured it was a sales call of some kind. I was sort of miffed Wayne didn’t just take the call, but there were ways to get even. My mind was already working on them.

In 100 years I never expected to hear, “Hi, my name is Josh and I work at CBS Radio. My producer gave me your name and wanted me to call you about a blog you once wrote about your choice not to have kids. There was a new study that came out today about how the numbers are increasing. Would you mind answering a few questions about your decision?”

Turns out the article was one I wrote while writing for Families.com: Another Reason I’m Married Without Children.

I answered the questions right then. I wished I’d scheduled it for later and had a chance to reread my article. I may have given better answers.

But I did the best I could having just woken up and being caught off guard. The interviewer was really nice, but most of all…how many times in my life have I ever gotten a call like that? Exciting!

But also interesting: I can see how the gorilla dream interpretation (all of it) can apply to the call. And how the dream about the mom/kid theme even goes along with what the call was about.

But what’s funniest of all. My period is super late. First time I’ve been late since it started back up after chemo. How crazy would it be if, surprise!, I’m pregnant right now? I think that’s an example of irony…

Oh, and in case you’re not clear on what a PIA is, it’s Pain In the Ass.

Sometimes it’s only a temporary condition. I can be a PIA to Wayne when it’s Moody Cooties time. (You know, when Aunt Flow’s due to visit?) He can be a PIA when he’s working too many hours.

But then there are those people who are permanently (and IMO irreversibly) afflicted with PIA Syndrome. I had to deal with one of those yesterday.

I knew she was going to be trouble from the get go. She’s a very uptight, controlling person who believes she’s more important than she is. And everything’s got to be done a certain way (hers) and she must have a say in how things are orchestrated even when she really shouldn’t.

Like when she’s a guest blogger on my blog. It’s my terms, bitch. Deal with it.

Anyway, normally I’m way too laid back to be bothered much by so much intensity. I’m pretty good at smoothing over ruffled feathers (even ones that are determined to always have something to be ruffled about), but when it’s Moody Cooties time my patience flies out the window.

Yesterday she was all about the drama, and the thing of it is…she was creating it all. Instead of stepping back and giving someone the benefit of the doubt that they (me) knew what they (I) was talking about because it is my blog and I know a thing or two about it, she jumped on the accusations.

“It’s wrong. This is the right link.”

I tried to politely explain that, no, that was not the right link. The original one was.

“But it’s not centering or pulling up right. It’s all wrong and all my people from East Coast to West can’t see it. Stop promoting it. There’s no point if it’s not right.”

Excuse me? You better back up the bus, Martha, and get a better ‘tude with me. I ain’t got time to be dealing with that kind of nonsense.

Normally I would’ve, though. I would’ve coddled and placated her until I could get the matter clear. We might even have a good laugh about it.

But yesterday I had an extremely busy day. I was also stressed because it was a three month oncologist check-up day.

“What ifs” plague me when I have to go for check-ups. And to boot while I was there Aunt Flow decided to land. (She didn’t full on arrive until I got home thankfully, but the pains had already flared.)

So my mental state was pretty keyed up for a change. That’s why when I got a snarky email from Miss Intensity freaking out because she can’t understand the link I sent her WAS the right one, I snapped.

The link was not pulling up weird for me as she claimed it was. I would of course happily fixed it if I saw there was a problem. I don’t see it on my end therefor I don’t know what’s wrong or how to fix it for her.

But to have the nerve to tell me to stop promoting a link on my own site or via Twitter and Facebook? Step off!

That’s just poor policy. I won’t be dealing with that person anymore.

And I can bet others aren’t going to put up with that kind of nonsense either because most people aren’t as nice as I am. She’s shooting herself in the foot with her high maintenance PIA ways.

He’s not far off. Every free second I get anymore I’ve got my laptop fired up and I’m in front of it. When he asks what I’m doing I chortle, “Blogging.”

“How can you be blogging? You always say that, but with all the banging you’ve been doing on those keys I’d have expected 50 posts by now.”

At this point I always sigh with exasperation.

“I’m doing blogging stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” he asks haughtily. (Because he caught on to my insinuating tone that it’s far too advanced for him and his fancy CPA mind to comprehend so I have to put it as simply as possible. Doesn’t get much simpler than “stuff.”)

So I sigh again. (After all, he’s taking away from my blogging time!)

“Blogging is more than just writing posts. I’ve got to visit all the blogs I follow and leave comments. I’ve got to scan my Google alerts and Tweet the links. Oh, and speaking of Twitter, I have to scan all my lists there and see what’s going on and RT or ‘at’ followers in my responses to their Tweets. That can take up a lot of time. Then I have to stop by the Haunt Jaunts Facebook fan page and…”

“Stop right there. I’ve heard enough. That doesn’t sound like ‘blogging’ to me. That sounds like you’re goofing off.”

I release a full on “I’m very annoyed with you now” huff.

“See? That’s why I just say ’stuff.’ You don’t understand that blogging is more than just writing a post. There’s a lot of behind the scenes work.”

“Goofing off.”

This is usually when I’ve had enough. I turn back to my computer and go back to my blogging, wishing he had something to blog about. Then he’d understand.

I got my complimentary copy of the Bylines 2010 calendar the other day. (Actually it was maybe two weeks ago now. Sylvia was a smidge late getting them out. I’ve been a smidge late remembering to write about it.)

It’s my third year to make it in. (And part of the payment is a complimentary copy.)

Each week a different author’s essay is featured. They’re very short. (Less than 300 words.)

My week is coming up soon. (The week starting February 21.)

The first year I made it in I wasn’t able to do much promo before I moved my mom in with us and assumed full-time (and then some!) care taking duties. Then last year I was far too sick from dealing with hitchhiker complications and chemo to do much of anything except veg or sleep.

So this year I need to start spreading the word. I figured I’d practice via my blog.

If anyone wants a copy, let me know. I can get them for 1/2 off! (They’re $14.95 and you can either get them from the Bylines site or on Amazon.)

They’re very cool calendars with lots of space for jotting notes and plotting plans. My favorite thing is the “Goals” and “Tasks” checklists for each month at the front. Super handy and organizationally motivating!

But when I wrote how I had no Follow Fridays last week, she said this Friday she might have to get involved in all that FF business.

I do believe Julie is a jinx for me –in a great way.

She did do some FF shout outs and threw a couple my way –which I think is what broke the zilch spell for me. I ended up with 25, not counting a few that were RT FFs in nature.

Julie, thank you. I know you didn’t mean to be a jinx, but I’m serious. I really believe you are!