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A third journal of personal musings |
 My life always continues to change and it only stands to reason that with each change, there should be a journal dedicated to it. |
Prompt: Change of Seasons "To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring." George Santayana When seasons change, say from summer to fall or fall to winter, what becomes challenging for you during these changes? And how do you think you react when life changes its seasons for you? I'm always sad when Spring leaves or Autumn changes into Winter, but as Francis Bacon said: "In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present." The stuff you hate has to exist in order for you to appreciate the things you like. I love Spring mostly because Winter sucks so much (especially when I lived in NY which is where majority of my hatred of Winter comes from). When I lived in NY, winter felt like it lasted 6 months. When Spring came, watching color come back to the land was amazing. Everything is white, gray, brown in Winter and watching green come back always just made me happy. I love Autumn for the same reason as Spring, just opposite. Watching color leave, you'd think would be depressing, but watching the green explode in other colors is amazing. The mood of the season is amazing too. It brings a comfort that maybe only introverts can enjoy. |
Prompt: "On September 13, 1990, the drama series "Law & Order" premieres on NBC; it will go on to become one of the longest-running primetime dramas in TV history .According to the now-famous "Law & Order" formula, the first half of the hour-long program, which is set in New York City, focuses on the police as they investigate a crime—often inspired by real-life news stories—while the second part of the show centers on the prosecution of those accused of that crime." Have you seen Law & Order? Is this show part of your weekly viewing? How do you feel about the format always being the same? Do you find it tedious or satisfying that you know what's coming next? If you're not a fan what prime-time dramas do you enjoy if any? I've watched OG Law and Order quite a few times. Mostly when I still lived back home and we had DirecTV, so I think it was on USA or TNT? I can't remember. Watched a few of the older episodes. I really liked (still do but haven't watched the show in forever) Law and Order: SVU. I just really loved the characters and how they had really good chemistry with each other. I didn't mind the formulaic format. I always kinda enjoyed the "twist" and how the episode would always feel like a different episode by the end. It felt weirdly...comforting (that feels like such a weird word to use) to know the show is going to be one way and then as the third act starts, it's going to feel so different from how it started. I don't watch a whole lot of TV anymore, though I saw that the Law & Orders are on Hulu, so I've favorited SVU and the OG. At some point, I'll probably just start watching some OG episodes. Be interesting to see how they've aged and if they've aged well. |
Prompt: Adventure vs. Routine "If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal." Paulo Coelho What do you think adventure is? And is routine all that bad? Oh boy. Routine isn't bad, though I can understand someone who lives a more chaotic life would love living spontaneously, but I love routine and planning (I'm okay with on the fly sometimes, but it really depends on how "peopley" I feel). I really need to be tested, but I feel like I have ADD and routine gets me through things and if I'm not in routine, it can be easy for me to just forget it's something I wanted to do/say/buy/etc. Adventure, in this context, is "freedom". Doing things when you feel like it, instead of scheduling or planning, or having a routine. I love people who just...wing it, wing life. I wish I could be like that. Instead, I feel like my life falls apart if any of my routines get messed with.  A lot of it, I feel has come "post-Covid" (2020-2024), which also had the extreme short-handedness at work during this time also. It was a time, for sure. The mixture of heightened anxiety and realizing I might possibly have ADD, was/is fantastic. But, while I more or less "need" routine, I also enjoy routine. It just helps make things run smoothly and helps me feel accomplish, which sometimes makes me feel like I'm a whole adult. Which, considering how I feel other times, is a wonderful feeling.  |
Prompt: “Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more that what we could learn from books.” John Lubbock Of the natural features, what is your favorite type? Oceans, mountains, etc. I love the outdoors. I love trees, so the woods are my favorite. I also love lakes. Lake Ontario, Onondaga Lake, the Finger Lakes, Lake Neatahwanta, Oneida Lake are all lakes that are close to where I used to live in New York. All within an hour of where I used to live. There is something immensely peaceful about both of those things. Unfortunately, I don't have lakes here in Indiana (though if we lived on the very northwestern corner (nearly Chicago) of the state, there is Lake Michigan). Thankfully though, where we've moved to, there are a lot more trees, there's bugs, it feels like nature outside of my house. Even though I live in a neighborhood. But I love seeing butterflies, dragonflies, skimmers, bees, spiders, bugs. I see rabbits, raccoons, pigeons, hawks, ducks, squirrels, chipmunks, and an array of birds. For living in a suburb outside of a major city (capital of the state even!), it brings happiness to my heart and soul. The southside of the city where we've lived since I moved here, is mostly a concrete jungle. One that formed in the 80s and 90s and feels it. So where we are now, just having the trees gives me a peace I haven't felt in a very long time. |
Prompt: Autumn Impressions "Autumn is the hardest season. The leaves are all falling, and they’re falling like they’re falling in love with the ground." Andrea Gibson Write about what this quote brings to your mind? Autumn is one of my favorite seasons. I think as a kid, this poem would hit square on, because it was going back to school and missing all the fun you had during the summer. Whether it was the staying up later than I could otherwise or having fun at a friend's house or whatever, it was done and now it was school that was ahead of me. Now...I work all of the time. I don't have specific time off. I do hate looking forward to winter, but I love the holidays. Then there's spring, which is my other favorite season. There are times where I kind of wish I still had that sadness of summer leaving, with the exception of this year, most of the time I'm excited for the ungodly hot to just go away. That I can be happy to leave my house without just constantly feeling uncomfortable. I'm currently enjoying the cool down. My two cats are enjoying the windows being open and Mathew and I are enjoying it too. |
Prompt: “Bring down the curtain—the farce is over.” The last words of French philosopher and comic, Francois Rabelais What do you think of life? Is it really a farce? My official answer, no. But how life feels currently? Yes. It sometimes feels that way. Politicians breaking laws, Supreme Court allowing laws and protections to be overruled. Nothing seems to happen. How ugly people are to other people. How it almost feels like people love to be lied to, because it just fits in with what they already believe, so why have any critical thoughts? The fact that the cost of everything is obnoxious and for what? It just feels like nothing makes sense. Feels like regular people don't matter. Like constantly being gaslit and companies, corporations stopped trying to prove their worth to you. And they've taken over so much that most people don't even have options. Can't go to a different grocery store or use a different Internet, have to use Amazon because there aren't many local options for things, especially the weirdly specific stuff you'd love to find locally but it's all corporate places that carry things people want all the time, not some-of-the-time. So while I don't feel like life is a farce. I think life is wonderful and beautiful. Current society as made it feel like one. |
Prompt: Cousins “A cousin is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost.” Marion C. Garretty Do you have cousins and how much do you like them? I do have cousins, a lot actually. I'm not familiar with my cousins from my dad's side of the family, but I am with my mom's side. I went and saw a few of them (and their families) when I went back home last week. I'm not as close as my older sister is with my older cousins. That's mostly because our families got together a lot more when they were kids than when I was a kid. Even with me living in Indiana rather than NY, also with thanks to Facebook (the only reason I still have it at this point), I'm able to stay in contact with them and see their kids grow up and what they're doing with their homes, their vacations, parties, etc. I'm pretty close with my mom's side of the family, so I always love getting together with them whether it's me going back home (like last week), or a couple of my cousins have driven through Indiana (having gone somewhere else) on their way back home and we'll get together and have breakfast or whatever. They have a friend who lives somewhat close by to me, so they will stay there for the night on their way back to NY.  |
Prompt: What is your idea of a cozy home? Write about this in your Blog entry today. I think it's hard to describe it. First, I think it's different for different people, but also because...a cozy home is a feeling. I felt it about our house when we walked through it. It was a multitude of factors for us. The windows along the back of the house (kitchen and living room) brought in a ton of light from the backyard. The house has an open layout, but enough walls that each of the rooms feel enclosed and separate. It feels warm, the house has been taken care of for its nearly 30 year existence. The rooms are all decent sized rooms. They aren't too small where it could feel almost claustrophobic or too large where it feels almost disproportionate. The color of the walls can make rooms (or a place) feel cozy and I feel like we helped do that with our house. Most of the walls were white (the bathrooms all had been redone and had been painted and our kitchen had a very light pale silver gray paint given to it), we painted the office, all three bedrooms, the dining room (which is now our library), and the bonus room (the middle bedroom and bonus room were painted in some very bright/neon colors, so the colors we chose were more "normal" and calming). They feel more lived in, brighter, and in some cases more calm and relaxing. Something else we will be doing is putting art and things on the wall to give them a more "lived in" and cozy feel too. Not a lot of stuff, but enough to make the walls feel less barren. It's always interesting see people's styles and even those who like to collect things, when they're stored in an organized way, it feels cozy versus feeling cluttered. Almost like walking into an antique shop. |
Prompt: "I haven't lived a perfect life. I have regrets. But that's from a lifetime of taking chances, making decisions, and trying not to be frozen. The only thing that I can do with my regrets is understand them." Kevin Costner Do you often regret things and what do you do about your feelings of regret, if you have any? There are a few things I regret, but one is more of an emotional response and the other is having 20/20 in hindsight. A lot of stuff of my life that I wish were better, whether it's having a different/better job, it's more just being unlucky in time. Like when I graduated in 2007 and the economy tanked. Or how for a long time, we were always like year behind the cost of living. We thought we might never buy a house because we always just seemed to be behind the price hikes and the interest rate increases. One of my regrets is just wishing I'd been a better daughter to my parents, helped them better financially. It's an emotional response since their deaths. Sometimes I get in a dark mental spiral about it, but then I just tell myself that it's a common emotional response and I just force myself to think of other things. The other was when I was in college and I'd graduated with a BFA in graphic design (focus in web design). I could've gone on to get my Masters, but I was so mentally tired from college that I decided against it. But then I began to realize that the economy was tanking and finding a job, at least where I lived in New York, was almost impossible for me for two reasons. One, I learned design (of web design). Prior to the economy tanking, you had someone who did the designing and someone who did the coding. I knew some light coding. After the economy tanking, they combined the positions and then made it so you needed +years of experience. I did get some interviews, but nothing after. I did got a provisional job, working for a company that put wifi's in Denny's. They wanted to dip their toe into web design. I explained I didn't know any deep coding, the owner (this was a small local company) said this was fine as that's all they needed. Turned out that wasn't at all what they needed. They told a lady who ran a vacation/tourist website for a city in Florida that they could move the website to their servers and maintain it for her. They ripped the website to their computer and fucked up all the code. It was my job to fix it. I tried to explain that I couldn't, but that I should try. The website was a lot more complex and tilted into more advanced coding than I knew. If I really cared I would've at least tried to tell them that there's an ability through hosting to transfer websites, but I had already decided that just before the holiday when they took a break I wasn't coming back. It was supposed to be like 30 days and ended up going to nearly 4 months. I'd call and let them know what my days off were and would work there on my days off. So, after the holidays, I just never called back. They never called me. I never felt guilty about it. I never felt true regret until I had gotten a job working with a friend I'd gone to college with, who had gone to get his Master's degree. I was excited because it was a guy who was a lawyer who decided to create websites for law firms. It wasn't that complicated of a job, I did well until the owner decided that one of the jobs he wanted to give the client what he thought she needed instead of what she actually wanted. Then she was upset with him. Then he wanted to make more complex websites than what they had designed for (all websites had a basic layout and I'd customize it slightly to whatever the client had in mind. So on top of that, I was also getting clients that wouldn't call me back and that became my fault. So I was fired. I felt like I failed. It then got to the point where I couldn't even get my Masters, Internet 2.0 had hit and things were just getting a lot more complex. I'd basically have to start over and that just felt so overwhelming and depressing. |
Prompt: "To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization." Harriet Beecher Stowe One of the things I love about my mom. She was the Queen of celebrating the small things. I know when I was born, because my mom would always sing happy birthday to me at that time. She'd ask us what we'd want for dinner for our birthday and I always looked forward to it. My mom had the amazing ability to enjoy and celebrate the small things in life and it makes me appreciate those things. I strive to live that way too. Especially with Mathew whose mother didn't really celebrate much at all. I think when you're able to enjoy the small things in life, life seems a little brighter. |
Prompt: "Every moment in your life tells a story." Write about this in your Blog entry today. Oh boy. You aren't kidding. I'm going to make this an easy one (for me) and probably an emotional one (for everyone else). I'm missing my mom a lot lately (always) and it's a story I like to tell because...well, I'll get to it and maybe you'll realize it before I get there. So, when I was 8 years old, my life kinda changed a lot. My dad had to file bankruptcy. We had quite a bit of money before I was born and when I was little. Through some inheritance yes, but my dad was a good business man. He ran some game rooms (remember those! I don't really, too little, but I vaguely remember my dad's) and was good at it. Unfortunately, my dad ended up running into a man who took advantage of him and his money and welp, by like 1993/94 my dad just kinda ran out of money. We lost our house and had to sell a lot of stuff to kinda get some money to find a place and a vehicle. Unfortunately, what my parents sold didn't do really either of those things. We ended up staying with a family friend and his wife that my dad had worked closely with before he'd come into his inheritance do being in the same plumbers and pipefitters union. Anyway, during the 3 months we stayed there, I celebrated my 9th birthday. I know I didn't get a lot of gifts, but I don't remember being saddened by it. To be fair, even though my parents had a lot of money, they never acted like they had a lot of money. My mom always felt like the most down to earth person. Sure, did she get her hair done and wear some nice clothes? Yes, but her clothes never felt outrageous or looked super expensive (even to me now when I look at old pictures, they look like she went to Macy's or JCPenny or something honestly). I know they did have some nice clothes and stuff. Like they got some really nice leather jackets and really nice cowboy boots, but that's really all that stands out to me (my dad could've had some really nice expensive suits, since I know he wore them a lot back then, but they just looked nice to me, I don't remember any brands). Anyway, not to say I didn't get a lot of gifts before then, but well, I don't know how to explain it. I never had the expectation of receiving a lot of gifts. They were never flamboyant with their money and so I don't think I understood what we lost, other than our house and that my mom had to get a job (she was a stay-at-home mom until then) and my dad had to get something else. To also put into reference, my dad had "retired" by this time. In 1985 when I was born, he was 52 (my mom was 34. She liked older men, lol) He had been able to get into doing whatever his friend was doing at the time, which might've been working at the old Birds Eye factory (which has sense closed). I just remember that they used to go to work together and come home together. My mom hadn't found a job yet (sometime after my birthday she would end up getting a job doing food prep for the Golden Corral). My mom told me much much later (after I graduated high school), how she was able to pull off that birthday. Because they didn't have much of anything then. She had taken a dollar (or two) and had played the lotto. She won $68 dollars. She used that money to give me a birthday. To buy me some gifts and a cake. I remember how hard that hit me when she told me, because she could have, should have, used it for whatever they needed to use it for at the time, even if it meant it went into savings. Instead, she used it on me. Now I want to say that I never ever doubted my mom's love for me or her devotion, but it really made me realize how lucky I was to have her as a mom. It's a story I like to tell when I want to describe the type of mom she was in the easiest way. I guess because my mom doubted herself a lot, because after that time, we never really had a lot of money. Did we ever end up destitute or have anything shut off? No, but there wasn't really time for extras or vacations. I think she always felt so bad for that. Or that she couldn't buy us more things for Christmas or our birthdays. I think those things hung on her a lot. She worked very hard, sometimes extra to get extra money. Especially during the fall and into winter time. My birthday was in September, hers was October, my sister's was at the very end of November, then there was Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas thrown in there too. It's one of the things I hate that I can't tell her now. That I don't think of those things. All of the small things she did are what I remember. Okay so maybe I got emotional too. Anyway, a moment in my life that tells a story. |
Prompt: "Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper." Robert Frost Is what Robert Frost says true for you? What makes you lose your temper? Yes, I think it is true. Education doesn't necessarily mean formal, but learning about things in general. I think you could make an argument that losing your temper can be often related to not fully understanding your opponent. For example for me, I used to try and talk to MAGA commenters/friends and I used to get irritated (mind you this was the first time around, so 2016) because they couldn't see why what they were saying made no sense. It didn't take me very long before I realized that they just wanted to think that way. So I stopped. Mind you I never lost my tempter. It takes a lot for me to lose my temper. But I've learned to save my sanity when it comes to being irritated or annoyed. Work is another one. I learned I was caring more than those above me, so I started taking the correct cues to lower my own standards. It has saved me a lot of frustration. |
Prompt: "Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." James A. Baldwin What do you think about this quote? Do our children really imitate us? Oh definitely! I'm not a parent, but I've been around my friends who do enough to know that they know exactly what to imitate. They might not listen to when you tell them to pick up their toys or eat their broccoli, but you accidentally say "shit" or "fuck" and by the goodness, will they suddenly be saying those words. They even want to imitate in good ways too like wanting to vacuum or sweep or mow the yard. Sometimes even older kids will want to wear similar things they see their older sibling wear or even what their mom or dad wears. We all know they often imitate behaviors or reactions to certain things. I've seen a video of this little girl, probably would be starting school the next year or so. Shows her walking with her arms behind her back and some words on the screen roughly saying: "We wondered where she got this from until" And then it shows a grandpa who walks with his arms behind his back. It's really cute! |
On this day in 1969, American actress Sharon Tate and four others were murdered by followers of Charles Manson, leader of a communal religious cult known as the “Family.” What do you recall about this heinous crime ? Thinking about the media coverage of that time compared to today's media coverage of violent crimes, which do you prefer? The crime itself was well before my time, but I've watched quite a few videos that have gone over it, whether it be just the murder or a documentary that talked about Charles Manson and included his time with the Family and the murder. Hearing a lot about what allegedly went on during his childhood, I feel bad for the boy and not all surprised by who he would become. I had always heard of the murders through a conversational type of way. Through shows or people talking about it. Knew of Helter Skelter both because of the murders and because of the Beatles, but I didn't know the importance until much later. It's the first thing I think of when "it was a different time" is ever said. Roman Polanski was someone very well known in Hollywood, as well as his wife Sharon Tate, and anyone could just walk up to their door (so much different than today it feels like). One of those weird things that sticks. The crime itself was horrible, especially since it was all just a set up. They were killed just to get white people angry at black people by making it seem as though black people committed the murders. It felt so...soulless. Ended up being done for absolutely no reason because no "race war" ever happened because of the murders. The media coverage, I'd prefer the media coverage of that time, I think. Even though it was sensationalized because of Sharon Tate and the Hollywood connection (and unfortunately, lesser coverage of the murders that happened the following night), a lot of the information was very open and laid out which is refreshing? Everything feels so neutered now with the media. I don't necessarily need to know intimate details, but they just tell you what happened. There's not a sob story, you don't have a documentary on the murderer by the evening news, there's not the 24/7 nonsense either. Which is probably the worst part of current news coverage. There also isn't "everyone's opinion" being used as news in news articles either. As much as I'm glad that it didn't become a "race war", there was questions of "weird religious rites", aka Satanic Panic, so I can imagine there was probably some of that, especially once Charles Manson was mentioned and his Family cult was brought to light. I could see something similar happening today, maybe not so much directly on the news (maybe some stations), but I could see it running through social media (been seeing some Satanic Panic type stuff off and on with certain things and I don't know how that cyclical nonsense keeps happening). Granted, I was born 16 years after the murders, so a lot of what I've seen is really just snippets. I didn't experience it nor have the real understanding of the time. If I'd learned about it before my parents had passed, it would've been an interesting question to ask my mom. She was 18 (would turn 19 that October), freshly graduated from high school. It would've been interesting to hear her thoughts and what people said, what they thought. What she thought. It will be interesting to see the opinions of those who lived through it, to hear what their opinions are. Especially at least with the news portion. Today's news coverage is so exhausting. They will scrape the bottom of the barrel, talking about things maybe only tangibly connected to the story because well, everything is 24/7 now. We have to hear opinions by 647 different people, find some random schmuck who knew the killer(s) or one of the victims and barrage them with questions for an hour. I just want to know what happened, told to me by journalists, not personalities. |
Number One of 1985   SongMoney for Nothing by Dire Straits  Book Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor  Money for Nothing is great! I included the music video because it is *french kiss* It is very early computer graphics and it's amazing. The song, like I said is great. It has an amazing opening guitar riff. If there is something that I don't think I ever realized until listening to it within the last few years was that the gay slur fa**ot is in it and it can be off putting a bit. I know they aren't using it so much as the people they're talking about are, but still. It's something that made me realize I listened to and watched the clean edit. I found the official music video on youtube a few years ago and was surprised by that addition. I've attached the clean edit music video. Dire Straits also has some other amazing songs, so if you like this song, I'd suggest checking them out. Romeo and Juliet, Two Young Lovers, Sultans of Swing, Telegraph Road, and Walk of Life are some! Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor is neither a book I have heard of or an author that I have heard of. The book sounds like stuff I've written for some stories that helps give me background for my stories. It's about a fictional town, but it's written in the style of a non-fictional historical publication. It goes over the history of the town and then describes the lives and activities of the inhabitants of the town. The second half of the book kinda reads like multiple short stories, but there isn't really a plot. I don't know if I'd go out of my way to read it, but I think if it was like a book club and we were to talk about it or use it as a reference for myself, for my own research, I might read it. I read a little bit up on the author to see if I might know of anything else he has written and the answer to that is no. He was more into radio and had a radio show called A Prairie Home Companion which was a variety show, which had musicians and some skits before a live audience (remember those?). The book was based off of some bits from that show and his show seemed to be popular enough that for the second half of September (I was born on the 20th) and into the first week of October, he was the number one NY Times Bestseller. |
I've been writing, a little bit, the last few days. It's been coming in spurts. A few weeks ago I was rewriting one of my oldest stories "Country Lovin'" (Really need to figure out a new title for that one  ). I've come to realize that that Covid, followed by my job losing a lot of employees (a new building was built in an area where a lot of employees were close to and transferred) and not replacing them and being shortstaffed and stressed from that, raised my anxiety tenfold and ADHD. I never really thought I had either, until post Covid. I need to get to a doctor to get them handled. I thought things were getting better at work, only for them to not really and things are just frustrating. Holding things out since one of the problems might be resolving themselves within the next month. Normally, I'd be considering a job change. Which sucks, because I've topped out and I get 2 bonuses a year (decent ones too!), but mentally man, it's been doing numbers. But thanks to the current administration, job security feels pretty non-existent for a lot of jobs I'd even consider. So, here I am for now. I think getting back into reading in a somewhat more consistent basis has been helping too. I've hated that reading also took a hit since Covid. I just couldn't focus. I'd be reading the same word, sentence, paragraph numerous times. Forget what had even happened. So, I'm glad to be reading more consistent. I'm definitely not back to what I used to be, but the fact that I can is making me happy. Hopefully that continues to keep going too. Feels better than just popping in to check email and scour the newsfeed, which is what I usually do (and try to make sure that I do that every day). Writing completes me. I can feel it build up and it's good to get it out. I think before, it just gets lost or stuck and that was never the case before. It was like an outside water spigot, but the valve handle was missing, so the water would just run free with nothing stopping it. I couldn't ever seem to be able to work a story because another one would be right behind it. Now it's the opposite problem. The valve handle doesn't seem to turn very easily and only seems to trickle. So we will see. I don't know if anyone much follows me or this anymore, but it's an update. It feels good to get it out there anyway. |
  Prompt:October. Halloween. Autumn. Has anything happen strange happen to you this month? Write about this in your Blog entry today.  This year? No. Busy and Chaotic? Yes. In general? Once, when I was a kid in middle school. I've always been pretty mature for my age. I always seemed to enjoy the conversation of adults over kids my own age. Not that I didn't also have friends my age, because I did. Though I didn't have super connections to kids my age, except for two neighbor girls I grew up with that I now consider to be my sisters. Anyway. I didn't have flights of fancy as they say even though I have always had a super creative mind and could easily think of ideas for stories. I was in 4th or 5th grade I think and it was Friday the 13th. I don't believe in that kind of stuff. I'll walk under a ladder and have a hoard of black cats (voids are my weakness), and toss a mirror on the ground. BUT, this Friday the 13th was a rainy and cold day and I was already frustrated because I thought I'd lost my house keys. I was home alone and this wasn't new, at this point after school I was for a couple of hours until my dad got home. I was on the stoop, putting my house keys in the knob when I felt something hit my shoulder and out of the corner of my eye it looked like a giant bug, like a beetle or something with a hard shell. It FREAKED me out. I jumped back off the small stoop and realized that it was the wooden handle of my dad's snow shovel. How it fell? I don't know. I just remember that everything felt so weird about the whole situation and realizing after that it was FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH and did that mean anything?? Made me question my whole life. I was fine and once I was warm and comfy inside my house, I laughed at it. But it's funny how just one thing being off can just make you question your whole reality sometimes! |
Prompt: Feeling Happy “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” - Marcel Proust What are your thoughts about this prompt and/or what makes you feel happier, people or some other things? There are a few people who make me happy. I'm mostly an introvert and so I tend to have a very small inner circle. I tend to have a "social meter" and I can feel drained and tired if my meter has been drained. But! Mathew is one of them. He constantly makes me laugh and makes me feel good about myself. After twenty and a half years with him, it's one of the constants in my life that makes my life better. I have members of my family that make me happy to be around also. I don't get to see them as much, due to living in a different state, but whenever we get together, I feel a comfort just by being around them. Mostly, animals make me happy. Pets probably more specifically, since I can often touch them lol But, my two boys made me happy, because they'd greet me when I'd get home, snuggle with me, sleep with me. Y'know, pet things. My new kittens, two girls, make me happy too. They've helped me get through my grief of losing my boys, while also making me laugh because of their kitten hijinx. Reading is another one. Which, for probably a lot of people here, is probably a popular thing that makes them happy. Being creative is another. It's something where it's the act of doing it that makes me happy and then if I can give them away, also makes me happy. Like right now, I love to crochet and then be able to give those away to people. I get to practice and do the art of it, then I can gift them to people. I make digital pet portraits and those I do specifically for people. It's also something fun and relaxing for me to do. |
Prompt: "Why insult someone when you can say something nice in a very sarcastic tone?" Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey Write about insults and/or Maggie Smith. Also, if you wish, how would you show a sarcastic tone of a character in a story? Maggie Smith was an awesome actress. I loved her in the Sister Act movies, Downton Abbey. The Secret Garden, and Hook. I never watched the Harry Potter movies, though I know she was great in those. I also loved her on The Graham Norton show. I'd love to watch some of her older work from when she was younger. I loved her personality and her humor. She seemed like such a real person, which when it comes to Hollywood and the like, how hard that is to come by. I think it's why I enjoyed her performances so much. Her sarcasm and how it could sometimes just underline things she did or said, was wonderful. I loved Ian McKellen's impression of her on Graham Norton, which made the story he told that much better. I loved her dry sense of humor and that realness of hers. It's refreshing, especially now where (and maybe (probably) it's just me being an old person) it just feels rare for actors to feel like real human beings who've had real experiences and emotions. Granted, it doesn't help that originality feels dead and those directing anything doesn't have a sense of what real people even are. So everything feels alien and weird. So, here's to Maggie Smith! |
Prompt: Do you ever write stories just using dialogue? Write about this in your Blog entry today. I've thought of doing this, but it feels like it goes against some kind of rule in my head? I don't know why. Sometimes when I'm writing in general if there's "too" much dialogue, I feel like I have to break it up with some description or movement or...something. I think it's definitely something about myself where I feel like things have to be a certain way whether or not there is a rule. Maybe it's because of the types of books I read at the time? Of course now, I see stuff like that and do it as a challenge, see if it's something I like or feel comfortable doing. I find myself one of those people, even though I'm of a creative nature, that I will sometimes keep myself in a box. I love people who step outside of that box. Like the book "A House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski. I love that someone can just imagine it and write it into existence. People can be amazing and I love that. I love that kind of creativity. I know it's just something simple like writing something that is entirely dialogue, but someone who apparently falls into the traditional mold a lot of the time, it's awesome. It definitely inspires me though to try that out and see what I can come up with. |
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