©MaryBrooke profile picture

©MaryBrooke

I am here for Friends

About Me


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I have an amazing friend whom I've know for about eight years now who is currently fighting Stage IV colon cancer ( & has spread to her liver). At the age of 32, she's truly one of the strongest & feistiest people I know, and that was before she got sick! Maggie has a presence like no other woman I have ever met. She enters a room and people notice, she smiles and the light just shines from her from within and she has a vivacious personality that you can't help but love and admire. This girl is a FIGHTER - that is for sure ... if anyone has the strength and drive to beat this, this woman does, but please send her good vibes whenever this might cross your mind. I've had a hard time with this since I got the news. She's a great person and a sweet friend. I appreciate the time you have taken to read this. She's letting nothing keep her down and she's determined to graduate from Baylor Law School this May. Click her photo below to read more about her fight. All entries in this account were written by her husband Chris and have not been altered in any way (other than the removal of personal contact information). Chris has approached this very difficult situation with humor, strength, perseverance and unconditional love & devotion. He often refers to the Southwest Regional Cancer Center where Maggie receives her chemo as "The Spa". Despite what Maggie is going through - she is one of the luckiest gals I know to have a man like Chris by her side 100% of the way. See: Thumpers-Hole.net
*Read More on Maggie*
Rewriting this 'About Me' thing ... until then, just look over to the left.

purple tipped anemone with a diamond blenny, cayman brac 2006
Click here for a slideshow of my August 2006 Caymam Brac dive trip that I took with my father who recently got recertified in Scuba after a twenty year hiatus.
Juvenile Spotted Drum, 8/23/2006
~ click: Photographs for Purchase ~
"I'm tired of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later."



Eighty percent of all life on Earth lives in the Ocean; Seventy percent of the planet is covered in water. We air-breathing bipeds are the minority on this solar satellite ...
The photo above is one that I took from the plane as I was leaving, what a serene way to remember Curacao ... Click *here* for more pictures from Curacao.
My Shark Dive in Honduras, 2005

Shark Dive in Honduras
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Add Video
... best to load the video completely before viewing. When the sharks start feeding, that's when it get's really awesome & intense!
One day, I hope to do a Great White cage dive in Australia.
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Trust me
It's Paradise
This is where the hungry come to feed
For mine is a generation that circles the globe
in search of something we haven't tried before
so never refuse an invitation
never resist the unfamiliar
never fail to be polite
and never out-stay your welcome
just keep your mind open and
suck in the experience
and if it hurts
you know what... it's probably worth it
you hope, and you dream
but you never believe that
something is going to happen for you
not like it does in the movies
you expect it to feel different
more visceral
more real
I was waiting for it to hit me
I still believe in paradise
but now at least I know it's not some place you look for
cause it's not where you go
it's how you feel for a moment in your life
and if you find that moment, ... it lasts forever

My Interests

Scuba diving, photography (underwater, etc), practicing & teaching yoga, outdoors, conservation of wildlife, world music, the ocean, aquatic life, reef systems, riding horseback, philosophy, travel, dachshunds, cheese, red wine, the Carribean Islands, music, scuba diving, Italian & Chinese food (though not at the same time), movies, theater, coffee, passionate people, rollerskating, documentaries, sailing, lakes, beach, Hatha & Ashtanga yoga, Ayurveda, preservation of the Tibetan culture. Did I mention scuba diving? ;-)

I'd like to meet:

People ... preferably. Truly good and easy-going people. Down to earth and creative. Hearts of gold and true to their word. People who still understand these words & live them: Integrity, Compassion, Friendship, Loyalty, Humor, Love, Gratitude and Passion. I'm NOT looking for the proverbial "hook-up" through this site, so keep clickin' if that's what you are thinkin'...

I'm not into collecting 'virtual' friends ... I'm trying to really limit my friends list to people I actually personally know or those that I honestly want to know. So, unless you know me - please don't send me an 'Hey - add me as a friend' request; just send an email and say hi, introduce yourself or just something interesting :-). I'll try to write back if I can, but don't be offended if I don't ... between this site, personal & work email, I'm usually drowning in emails.

~ Good Times, Good Friends ~
|

Steve Irwin: 'How I'd Like to be Remembered'


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... you were an amazing soul, Steve. Thank you for bringing your message of wildlife conservation to the attention of so many. You'll be missed...



Music:

Havilah Rand, A Fine Frenzy, Little Dragon, Peter Gabriel, Nina Simone, 30 Seconds to Mars, Jeff Buckley, Joseph Arthur, Poe, Rasa, Dead Can Dance, Youssou N'Dour, Peter Murphy, Frou Frou, Cold Play, Bush, Kid Beyond, Tears for Fears, Thievery Corporation, Mogwai, Baaba Maal, U2, James Blunt, Black Eyed Peas, Jim Croce, The Cult, Tori Amos, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Seal, Chevelle, Russell Watson, Puddle of Mud, downtempo, The Killers, Bjork, african drums, Jason Mraz, Massive Attack, Outkast, Anna Nalik, Ernie Ernst, Echo and The Bunnymen, Vinx, The Juliana Theory, Leaves, Blue October, Stabbing Westward, Live, Explosions in the Sky, The Mavericks, Antony and The Johnsons, R. Carlos Nakai, Citizen Cope, Govinda, Strunz & Farah, Doves, Raul Malo, Will Seabrook, The The ... (approximately 100 Gigabytes of music in my MP3 collection and it's still growing...)

Movies:

Whale Rider, The Color Purple, Gladiator, Gandhi, LOTR, Amalie, Raising Arizona, Amadeus, High Fidelity, Apocalypse Now, Fierce Grace, Sin City, Girl Fight, The Station Agent, My Life Without Me, Kissing Jessica Stein, The Holy Grail, Memento, Princes Bride, Powder, The Killing Feilds, Orlando, Go!, Pulp Fiction, Billy Elliot, Usual Suspects, Baraka, Office Space, Walking with Dinosaurs, The Professional, IMAX movies, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, Brokeback Mountain, Life is Beautiful, 21 Grams, Ghandi, Crash, Kundun, I Am Sam, Malena, Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Television:

Caught In The Moment

...pretty much anything Nature or Science related. I spend a lot of time on The Disovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, Animal Planet, The Learning Channel and The Science Channel. I also rent films and documentaries from Netflix.

Love this Series!:

Books:

Too many to list ...but ... just read "The Five People you meet in Heaven" - very sweet little book. "Freedom in Exile" by the Dalai Lama."The Classic Reef Set" - Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas includes Reef Fish Identification, Reef Creature Identification and Reef Coral Identification by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach

I have a friend who writes some pretty funny stuff, click here for Ster's Adventures! It's good readin' yall!

Heroes:

Steve & Terri Irwin , Vanessa Garnick and Tristen Bayer , Tenzin Gyatso a.k.a. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, also Ghandi , Nelson Mandela , Christopher & Dana Reeve , My mother, the folks Central Texas Dachshund Rescue , Mattie Stepanek and Matt Johnston .

Click to donate to Wildlife Warriors

My Blog

* Facebook users beware ...

Use Facebook!? You should read this then:http://blogs.photopreneur.com/facebook-claims-right-to- create-derivative-works-from-members-photos Nice.
Posted by ©MaryBrooke on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:25:00 PST

Bon Bini Bonaire!

On March 28th, I'm headed off to the island of Bonaire for some diving and general relaxation."Bon Bini" is Papiamento [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papiamento] for "Hello/Welcome"Here's where I'll be...
Posted by ©MaryBrooke on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:00:00 PST

My Life Aquatic

... a collection of my photographs from various dive trips ...
Posted by ©MaryBrooke on Tue, 07 Nov 2006 07:29:00 PST

Maggie's Fight ...

I have an amazing friend whom I've know for about seven years now who is currently fighting Stage IV liver cancer (began with colon cancer, which has been removed) at the age of 31. She's truly one of...
Posted by ©MaryBrooke on Tue, 09 Jan 2007 02:28:00 PST

Mocha: Busted!

My lil' long-haired dachshund Mocha was sooo busted this morning! I heard something rustling inside my pantry. I went into look and this is what I found. Unfortunately .. this dog of mine isn't the sh...
Posted by ©MaryBrooke on Sat, 20 Jan 2007 12:05:00 PST

Speak up, sir...You need the extra small condoms?

(Humiliation, on a global scale. Indian men have their game squashed by Reuters) Speak up, sir...You need the extra small condoms? NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Condoms designed to meet international size s...
Posted by ©MaryBrooke on Fri, 08 Dec 2006 12:15:00 PST

New Bill Would Defend Marriage From Sharks

WASHINGTON DC..Senator Bill Frist (R..TN) introduced a controversial new bill Tuesday that would severely limit the ability of sharks to "mutilate the institution of marriage until it is completely un...
Posted by ©MaryBrooke on Wed, 01 Nov 2006 02:22:00 PST

Kim Jong-Il Interprets Sunrise As Act Of War

Kim Jong-Il Interprets Sunrise As Act Of War October 31, 2006  PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREAIncreasingly defiant toward international pressure since his nation's first nuclear test in early October,...
Posted by ©MaryBrooke on Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:31:00 PST

Nations Grandmothers Swept Up In Textile-Messaging Craze

Nation's Grandmothers Swept Up In Textile-Messaging Craze
Posted by ©MaryBrooke on Thu, 02 Nov 2006 08:41:00 PST

Forget Sexy! Just hand me the Paxil !!

..>...
Posted by ©MaryBrooke on Tue, 24 Oct 2006 02:04:00 PST