Wednesday, May 16, 2012
What's your story, Mourning Glory?
It hurts to write here and I'm not sure if it is the innoculation sort of hurt (painful but useful) or if it is the papercut on your finger kind of hurt (painful, unpleasant and likely to not let you forget about it for a while.) You see, I used to write, in part, so Mom would read. It's like dialing her number and realizing she won't be there to answer.
I have discovered that were I was once disjunct and silly I am now flighty and a dork. Let me cite examples. I gave myself a papercut on my lip while talking to my boss. I lost my phone. More than once. I couldn't find the money I had put in my pocket and later found it. In my back pocket. I forgot about back pockets. I cannot find a cooking pan in my house. One I know I threw away. I can't find the other. I checked the freezer eve. No good. * sigh *
And thus we see... I could be a funny home video subject.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Words!
I haven't blogged for about a century, in word years. I don't know that such a thing exists, but it sounds cool and lets me get away with exaggeration. Just today I saw a social media post from a friend who's blog I had been following, and then realized, "oh my goodness, I have seen their blog in months!" By which word, two months still counts as months because it makes me add the "s" to pluralize it. Then I realized, shortly afterwards, that I hadn't been following because I haven't been posting. I felt somewhat less critical of myself for this deficiency when I noticed that I have friends who are less frequent posters than I am. Why do we do that, I wonder? We compare ourselves to others to determine how guilty we ought to feel? I don't know why, but it was effective.
I am currently on an addictive path. I am playing Words with Friends. I like that I can do this with friends who live all over the place. By which I mean, not here. I have been surprised at my paucity of vocabulary at crunch time, but what can be done? Anyone else want to have a friendly joust with the alphabet?
I am currently on an addictive path. I am playing Words with Friends. I like that I can do this with friends who live all over the place. By which I mean, not here. I have been surprised at my paucity of vocabulary at crunch time, but what can be done? Anyone else want to have a friendly joust with the alphabet?
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
What I Call Heaven
It had all the trappings of The. Lamest. Day. But it wasn't. And this is why.
I spent hours (this is not an exaggeration, it was literally hours, notwithstanding the umpteen times that the call was dropped and we had to dial back, and "umpteen" is only slightly exaggerated) talking to my sister. It's been a while since we've just talked. We laughed. We mused. We were sisters.
Then, the next morning, I woke up to a clean house. Pristine, you may even say. I could walk into my kitchen and find not a single dirty dish. It was positively glorious. Which inspired me to cook. Clean kitchens can have that effect. A little counter-intuitive, really, because cooking tends to make Clean Kitchen quickly degenerate into Dirty Kitchen. But, thanks to some training from friends, I cleaned as I went.
I made muffins. Delicious, healthy muffins that weren't overly sweet and used some stuff in the fridge that needed to be used soon. I opened my oven and proudly looked upon muffins that were pretty. (This is important, because I tried to recreate that magic and confronted Total Failure instead. Stupid muffins ungratefully fell.) They were rounded and browned and just positively unshameful. Yes, I could admit that I made them. I could even, you won't believe it, SHARE them.
Then, upon seeing my kitchen still clean and generally amazing, I was not afraid to embark on an adventure. I busted out the crock pot. I am so delighted we even HAVE that crock pot. It was happiness just getting to use it. Then I cleaned and cut and seeded a bunch of pears. I tried out a recipe for pear butter. I favored this over pear jam because I didn't have any pectin at home. Then, the long process of crockpottery began.
Then I sat down and had some breakfast, because seriously it was still pretty early in the day. On a Saturday. I was productive, and the house was still clean.
So I took a nap. I love naps. It seemed like the right thing to do on a sunny but chill Saturday of productivity at noon. Delightful.
Afterwards, I got to hang out with my brother and his family. We celebrated a birthday and had a good time.
Then back home, to relax and be cheerful and relish what was a wonderful day.
I spent hours (this is not an exaggeration, it was literally hours, notwithstanding the umpteen times that the call was dropped and we had to dial back, and "umpteen" is only slightly exaggerated) talking to my sister. It's been a while since we've just talked. We laughed. We mused. We were sisters.
Then, the next morning, I woke up to a clean house. Pristine, you may even say. I could walk into my kitchen and find not a single dirty dish. It was positively glorious. Which inspired me to cook. Clean kitchens can have that effect. A little counter-intuitive, really, because cooking tends to make Clean Kitchen quickly degenerate into Dirty Kitchen. But, thanks to some training from friends, I cleaned as I went.
I made muffins. Delicious, healthy muffins that weren't overly sweet and used some stuff in the fridge that needed to be used soon. I opened my oven and proudly looked upon muffins that were pretty. (This is important, because I tried to recreate that magic and confronted Total Failure instead. Stupid muffins ungratefully fell.) They were rounded and browned and just positively unshameful. Yes, I could admit that I made them. I could even, you won't believe it, SHARE them.
Then, upon seeing my kitchen still clean and generally amazing, I was not afraid to embark on an adventure. I busted out the crock pot. I am so delighted we even HAVE that crock pot. It was happiness just getting to use it. Then I cleaned and cut and seeded a bunch of pears. I tried out a recipe for pear butter. I favored this over pear jam because I didn't have any pectin at home. Then, the long process of crockpottery began.
Then I sat down and had some breakfast, because seriously it was still pretty early in the day. On a Saturday. I was productive, and the house was still clean.
So I took a nap. I love naps. It seemed like the right thing to do on a sunny but chill Saturday of productivity at noon. Delightful.
Afterwards, I got to hang out with my brother and his family. We celebrated a birthday and had a good time.
Then back home, to relax and be cheerful and relish what was a wonderful day.
Monday, November 21, 2011
30 Days -- Analyzed
I took up the challenge to blog for 30 days straight. I felt that if I had a commitment, moreover one of which others were aware, I would complete it and this would somehow help me find my writing mojo. I was partially correct.
I felt obligated to comply with a 30-day writing scheme. I had a different topic for each day, although some were admittedly lamer than others. I am writing now to share what I have learned from this challenge.
First. I hated it. There is something perfectly dreadful about making yourself do something you love. It takes the pleasure out of it and leaves little more than drudgery. Yuck.
Secondly. I frequently take a paragraph to express what could have been communicated in a sentence. This goes long for the readers. They lose interest. Stink.
Thirdly. Closely related to the previous note, due to the frequency of the writing and the overbearing quantity of words, feedback is limited. Low feedback means that I feel more frustrated writing because I think nobody else is reading. Unfortunate.
Fourthly. The topics are sometimes stretching me to talk about things about which I would never talk. I suppose that could also be considered a perk. But sometimes, all a girl really wants is her comfy jeans and t-shirt, y'know what I mean? Uncomfortable.
And there you have it. I think I would simply do better to aim to write at least a couple of times a month.
From an observer's point of view, what were the highlights? The drawbacks? Were there specific posts you enjoyed more than others?
I felt obligated to comply with a 30-day writing scheme. I had a different topic for each day, although some were admittedly lamer than others. I am writing now to share what I have learned from this challenge.
First. I hated it. There is something perfectly dreadful about making yourself do something you love. It takes the pleasure out of it and leaves little more than drudgery. Yuck.
Secondly. I frequently take a paragraph to express what could have been communicated in a sentence. This goes long for the readers. They lose interest. Stink.
Thirdly. Closely related to the previous note, due to the frequency of the writing and the overbearing quantity of words, feedback is limited. Low feedback means that I feel more frustrated writing because I think nobody else is reading. Unfortunate.
Fourthly. The topics are sometimes stretching me to talk about things about which I would never talk. I suppose that could also be considered a perk. But sometimes, all a girl really wants is her comfy jeans and t-shirt, y'know what I mean? Uncomfortable.
And there you have it. I think I would simply do better to aim to write at least a couple of times a month.
From an observer's point of view, what were the highlights? The drawbacks? Were there specific posts you enjoyed more than others?
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
I Wish You Success
It is so easy to get wrapped up in the stifling net of negativity. There are reasons to be glum. There are disappointments and unexpectations and a myriad of provocateurs of unpleasantness. But not curbing this emotional espionage leaves only one's own happiness dangling upon a noose.
And so, I wish you success. You, the you who are reading this. I desire for you the fulfillment of your richest, most profound hopes that bring you closer to the Savior and to your true happiness. Cut the noose and run from the flow of negativity.
I am trying to build my own dams that hold back the tide of that which blots out the light of happiness. I will share one with you.
"Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God and He will draw night to you." (part of James 4: 7-8)
I read and reread this verse, I try to memorize it. It offers me strength and it stills the surge that suffocates my happiness. I delight in the peace that comes with this knowledge, and I am brightened by it.
And so, I wish you success. You, the you who are reading this. I desire for you the fulfillment of your richest, most profound hopes that bring you closer to the Savior and to your true happiness. Cut the noose and run from the flow of negativity.
I am trying to build my own dams that hold back the tide of that which blots out the light of happiness. I will share one with you.
"Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God and He will draw night to you." (part of James 4: 7-8)
I read and reread this verse, I try to memorize it. It offers me strength and it stills the surge that suffocates my happiness. I delight in the peace that comes with this knowledge, and I am brightened by it.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Day 30
Define "Well-Read"
I like to think myself a decently well-read individual. Surely there are quite a few books whose pages I have yet to turn, and should, but I have read many books. I love books. I devour books. And like anything I truly love, I also find myself not engaging in it as often as I would like. I thought I could be more well-read. I wanted to know what would constitute a well-read person, an. Having recalled an email from some time ago that you were supposed to indicate which books you have read, I searched for a measuring stick to measure my own exposure to the literary universe. There are lots of lists, of course. I got bored searching for one that was easy to copy/paste. This comes from Buzzle.com (I know absolutely nothing about this website.)
Books I've read are in bold. Books I'm mostly certain I've read are in bold and italics. Books I've begun but not completed have an 'x' in front of them. Books that I've read excerpts (likely for classes) are marked with a '^'. And just for the record, if the author originally wrote it in a different language that I can understand, I'd prefer to read it in the original language.
1.Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
2.A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
^3.Moby Dick by Herman Melville
4.Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
5.Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver
6.The Trial by Franz Kafka
7.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
8.The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
9.The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
10.A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
11.The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
12.1984 by George Orwell
13.Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote
14.Working by Studs Terkel
15.Rabbit, Run by John Updike
16.To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
17.Herzog by Saul Bellow
18.The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
19.The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
20.Birdsong by Sebastian Faulk
21.All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
22.Lord of the Flies by William Golding
23.Post Office by Charles Bukowski
24.The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
25.Persuasion by Jane Austen
26.The Call of the Wild by Jack London
27.Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
28.Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
29.Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
30.The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
31.The Godfather by Mario Puzo
32.The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
33.The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler
34.Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner
35.Lizard Music by D. Manus Pinkwater
36.The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
37.Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
38.The Stranger by Albert Camus
39.Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
40.The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett
41.Mythology by Edith Hamilton
42.100 Great Science Fiction Short Stories edited by Isaac Asimov
43.Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson
44.The Real Frank Zappa Book by Frank Zappa
45.Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
46.The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
47.A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
48.The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
49.Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
50.The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway
51.The Annotated Alice by Lewis Caroll (notes by Martin Gardner)
52.Call it Sleep by Henry Roth
53.Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
54.The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
55.Foundation by Isaac Asimov
56.A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
57.The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
58.The Shining by Stephen King
59.Animal Farm by George Orwell
60.The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum
61.The Tenants by Bernard Malamud
62.Papillon by Henri Charriere
63.The Happy Prince and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde
64.The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
65.Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
66.Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
67.The Quiet American by Graham Greene
68.James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
69.Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
70.Women by Charles Bukowski
71.Edie: An American Biography by Jean Stein
72.Blubber by Judy Blume
73.The Book of Lists by David Wallenchinsky
74.Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
75.To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
76.The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
77.The Bronx Zoo by Sparky Lyle and Peter Golenbock
78.A Separate Peace by John Knowles
79.Oh Human Bondage By W. Somerset Maughm
80.The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
81.Zen and the Art of Mortocycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
82.In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
83.Side Effects by Woody Allen
84.A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony
85.A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor
86.Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
87.The Great Brain at the Academy by John D. Fitzgerald
88.Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
89.Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
90.Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
91.Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles
92.Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
93.Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
94.The Movie-goer by Walker Percy
95.Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
96.Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
97.On the Road by Jack Kerouac
98.One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
99.The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Casteneda
100.Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Wow... only 22 out of 100. That's an F if this is a true scale of one's literary exposure. What books do YOU think one should read to gain deeper insight or enjoyment?
I like to think myself a decently well-read individual. Surely there are quite a few books whose pages I have yet to turn, and should, but I have read many books. I love books. I devour books. And like anything I truly love, I also find myself not engaging in it as often as I would like. I thought I could be more well-read. I wanted to know what would constitute a well-read person, an. Having recalled an email from some time ago that you were supposed to indicate which books you have read, I searched for a measuring stick to measure my own exposure to the literary universe. There are lots of lists, of course. I got bored searching for one that was easy to copy/paste. This comes from Buzzle.com (I know absolutely nothing about this website.)
Books I've read are in bold. Books I'm mostly certain I've read are in bold and italics. Books I've begun but not completed have an 'x' in front of them. Books that I've read excerpts (likely for classes) are marked with a '^'. And just for the record, if the author originally wrote it in a different language that I can understand, I'd prefer to read it in the original language.
1.Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
2.A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
^3.Moby Dick by Herman Melville
4.Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
5.Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver
6.The Trial by Franz Kafka
7.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
8.The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
9.The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
10.A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
11.The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
12.1984 by George Orwell
13.Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote
14.Working by Studs Terkel
15.Rabbit, Run by John Updike
16.To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
17.Herzog by Saul Bellow
18.The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
19.The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
20.Birdsong by Sebastian Faulk
21.All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
22.Lord of the Flies by William Golding
23.Post Office by Charles Bukowski
24.The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
25.Persuasion by Jane Austen
26.The Call of the Wild by Jack London
27.Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
28.Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
29.Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
30.The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
31.The Godfather by Mario Puzo
32.The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
33.The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler
34.Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner
35.Lizard Music by D. Manus Pinkwater
36.The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
37.Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
38.The Stranger by Albert Camus
39.Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
40.The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett
41.Mythology by Edith Hamilton
42.100 Great Science Fiction Short Stories edited by Isaac Asimov
43.Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson
44.The Real Frank Zappa Book by Frank Zappa
45.Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
46.The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
47.A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
48.The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
49.Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
50.The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway
51.The Annotated Alice by Lewis Caroll (notes by Martin Gardner)
52.Call it Sleep by Henry Roth
53.Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
54.The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
55.Foundation by Isaac Asimov
56.A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
57.The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
58.The Shining by Stephen King
59.Animal Farm by George Orwell
60.The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum
61.The Tenants by Bernard Malamud
62.Papillon by Henri Charriere
63.The Happy Prince and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde
64.The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
65.Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
66.Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
67.The Quiet American by Graham Greene
68.James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
69.Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
70.Women by Charles Bukowski
71.Edie: An American Biography by Jean Stein
72.Blubber by Judy Blume
73.The Book of Lists by David Wallenchinsky
74.Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
75.To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
76.The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
77.The Bronx Zoo by Sparky Lyle and Peter Golenbock
78.A Separate Peace by John Knowles
79.Oh Human Bondage By W. Somerset Maughm
80.The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
81.Zen and the Art of Mortocycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
82.In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
83.Side Effects by Woody Allen
84.A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony
85.A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor
86.Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
87.The Great Brain at the Academy by John D. Fitzgerald
88.Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
89.Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
90.Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
91.Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles
92.Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
93.Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
94.The Movie-goer by Walker Percy
95.Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
96.Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
97.On the Road by Jack Kerouac
98.One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
99.The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Casteneda
100.Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Wow... only 22 out of 100. That's an F if this is a true scale of one's literary exposure. What books do YOU think one should read to gain deeper insight or enjoyment?
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Day 29
When Doing Things "My Way" Means I Don't Get What I Want
Last night I logged into my social media account and noticed that it was painfully slow. No, seriously, so slow in fact that I wasn't sure if it was even functional or if it had frozen. It would only partially load pages, to add insult to injury. I was not pleased. So, while I waited for a page to load, I opened my blogger so I could work on Day 27. I had no idea about what to write, so I decided to use one of the questions I least liked on the list of possible blog topics. To do so, I would need a few pictures. It took me a while (and in the meantime I think I did at least get to respond to somebody's post in the social media website), but I was able to find two. I was on the third and final picture, trying to find the perfect one, when all of a sudden my whole system stops and just looks at me. It tells me that the web pages aren't responding. I'm miffed now, because I've been trying to blog for an hour. And it's time to watch our Monday night show (which we do via the internet.) I have the Grumpy Face going on. I ask, out loud, "why does it work for you and not for me?!?" Silently I curse the web. Stupid internet. Grrr.
The whole thing has to be restarted, we go through the process, and then my computer kindly asks me if I would like to reopen the browser pages that I was using before the internet crashed and my computer hated me. Sure. At least I can sign out of stuff.
That's when the Voice of Reason looks at the screen and says, "how many pages do you have open?! No wonder you couldn't get the pages to load."
Okay, so there was the page we were keeping open to be able to watch the show, the social media page, the blogger page and a search engine. But that's not really too much, is it?
And in my logic, instead of noting that I was actively trying to use 3 pages at once, I only found fault with the page I wasn't using.
Sigh. Good thing other people can bring me to my senses. Way to be, Voice of Reason.
Last night I logged into my social media account and noticed that it was painfully slow. No, seriously, so slow in fact that I wasn't sure if it was even functional or if it had frozen. It would only partially load pages, to add insult to injury. I was not pleased. So, while I waited for a page to load, I opened my blogger so I could work on Day 27. I had no idea about what to write, so I decided to use one of the questions I least liked on the list of possible blog topics. To do so, I would need a few pictures. It took me a while (and in the meantime I think I did at least get to respond to somebody's post in the social media website), but I was able to find two. I was on the third and final picture, trying to find the perfect one, when all of a sudden my whole system stops and just looks at me. It tells me that the web pages aren't responding. I'm miffed now, because I've been trying to blog for an hour. And it's time to watch our Monday night show (which we do via the internet.) I have the Grumpy Face going on. I ask, out loud, "why does it work for you and not for me?!?" Silently I curse the web. Stupid internet. Grrr.
The whole thing has to be restarted, we go through the process, and then my computer kindly asks me if I would like to reopen the browser pages that I was using before the internet crashed and my computer hated me. Sure. At least I can sign out of stuff.
That's when the Voice of Reason looks at the screen and says, "how many pages do you have open?! No wonder you couldn't get the pages to load."
Okay, so there was the page we were keeping open to be able to watch the show, the social media page, the blogger page and a search engine. But that's not really too much, is it?
And in my logic, instead of noting that I was actively trying to use 3 pages at once, I only found fault with the page I wasn't using.
Sigh. Good thing other people can bring me to my senses. Way to be, Voice of Reason.
