Search
Subscribe

Enter your email address

Where I Am

FacebookTwitter

LinkedInRSS Feed

 

 

 University of Mississippi's Writers' Page


Resources I Love


Create Your Writer's Life,
by Cynthia Morris


Impulses Newsletter

On My Nightstand

Write It Down,
Make It Happen
by Henriette Anne Klauser

Flannery,
by Brad Gooch

Evolution of God,
by Robert Wright

How to be Good
by Nick Hornby

Ending Your Day Right,
by Joyce Meyer

And my monthly copy of
Down East Magazine


Powered by Squarespace
Products of contemplation from an enthusiastic freelance writer who just can't pin herself down. Some technical, some not so much. Some creative, some shockingly unimaginative. Some professional and productive and some, frankly, unprofessional and unproductive. And that's probably where the fun starts.
Wednesday
03Feb2010

Middle Age is Being Mean to Me Again

My son stayed with me for a few days in December and I asked him to notice how hot it got upstairs at night. I mean, boiling hot. Not only did he not notice it he said that he got a little chilly. After several discussions, he asked me if this could be some symptom of menopause. I’m here to tell you that the shock of that never occurring to me in the first place was something, but to have it brought up by your fully-grown son, was quite another.

After some pains reminiscent of childbirth, I ordered a $28 Internal Cleanse program from Amazon. Two days after it arrived in the mail, I got the stomach flu. Now, I’m on the BRAT system. Bananas, rice, applesauce, toast. My stomach’s quieted down a lot, so we’re going to stick with this for a while. Start thinking like nursing home cafeteria menu makers.

I can’t keep enough lotion and hair conditioner in the house. I’m like the Sahara. There’s just never enough moisture.

Which brings me to peeing in cups. I recently had to do this and couldn’t perform. Come to my house in the middle of the night and we’ll have no issues, but during the day, that much productivity ain’t happenin’. Whose cruel joke was it to move the minimum requirement line anyway?

Click to read more ...

Thursday
07Jan2010

My Lil' Winter Wonderland

And it's still snowing, though I do see a break in the clouds. Stayed home today to enjoy it and keep my new car safe. We're still in that getting-to-know-you phase, and I'd hate to scare it off with too much responsibility.

 

Thursday
17Dec2009

For Your Eyes Only

"Nobody will stop you from creating. Do it tonight. Do it tomorrow. That is the way to make your soul grow - whether there is a market for it or not! The kick of creation is the act of creating, not anything that happens afterward. I would tell all of you watching this screen: Before you go to bed, write a four line poem. Make it as good as you can. Don't show it to anybody. Put it where nobody will find it. And you will discover that you have your reward."   Kurt Vonnegut
Ode to 2009
Another year is coming to a close and entirely too fast.
What did I learn? Did I do enough nice things? Am I closer this year than I was the last? 
My biggest lessons: letting go with dignity, intention and manifestation, a new definition for productivity, and methods to relax and trust.
My biggest thanks: new friends, good ol’ Austin, finances, opportunities, and Universal connections that have helped me with my biggest challenge to date, which was just to adjust.
OR
Ode to Jimmy John’s Totally Tuna Sandwich
Oh, you are so yummy.
In my tummy.
I love you, I love you, I love you.
I'd like to eat three of you, but that is not something I should do.

Rewarded. 

 

Monday
30Nov2009

In My Dreams

Last night, I took a Tylenol PM and here's what happened. I was on assignment to interview Craig Ferguson for some famous magazine. The article's angle was to reveal the everyday man, so it required spending lots of time getting to know him. Another day, another dollar. 

He had a home remodeling project going on and invited me to hang out while he and his friends (one of whom was Gerard Butler poor me) worked on the house. He had recently purchased this huge fixer-upper near his actual residence as a fun project. He hadn’t decided if he was going to move into it himself or just sell it. He said it depended on the market. Yes, it was discussed at this level of detail. I’m an idiot.

I hung out with him for what I think was a week or so. I’d ask him questions and watch him work, sometimes handing him things and answering questions he'd ask me about myself. Some days, we drove to get coffee in the morning and pick up deli for everyone for lunch. We also went to Home Depot, a hair salon, a lighthouse and the arcade at the mall. We barbecued in the empty swimming pool a couple of nights after grueling days of not a lot of working but a lot of mutual interviewing. 

He let me stay in the house at night. There was one bedroom magically and completely move-in ready, so that was dream-convenient. There were no lights yet, so I assume there also was no AC and no heat. The world was of the perfect temperature, I guess, because I was comfortable. There also was a light hazy gray misty color about the atmosphere so I could see around. Must have been some sort of romantical night vision dream machine. We talked about how complimentary it was. 

In other words, Craig and I really hit it off. For obvious reasons. ;) And, as you would expect after a few days of hanging out with me, the relationship crossed the line into animal attraction. Again, duh, for obvious reasons. 

Anyway, I was upstairs in the dream-convenient-ready-made room eating pizza (yet again, for obvious reasons) when the doorbell rang. It was he. In a t-shirt and jeans with his hands in his pockets sporting a puppy dog and 5 o’clock shadowed face all leaning up against the door jam. 

“I like you, ye know.”  Being creative even in my dreams, I came back with, “I like you, too.”

We stared at each other for a moment until I broke the silence with, “You have to go home now.” 

And, with that, I turned away Craig Ferguson. Why, you ask? Something about my knowing how much he loved his wife. And, because I cared about him and his happiness. But mostly because I can’t even do drug-induced dreams right. 

So, he sat in his car in the driveway, hoping that I’d change my mind and invite him back into his house. I watched him from the window while I ate some more pizza, but I didn’t go get him before the alarm went off.

Monday
23Nov2009

Cursed With Higher Expectations

Wouldn’t you know it - a traffic snarl about a half-mile from where I needed to turn. It was Saturday and the weekend number of cars on the road usually made this particular stretch pretty uneventful, so I assumed there must be a wreck ahead. 

I noticed that all the cars were leaning toward the right lane with their turning blinkers on, which was perfectly normal behavior to get around an accident. But just ahead, I could also see a long stretch of lights and turning blinkers from cars pointing towards me and waiting patiently in the left-turning lane. Not exactly. The real situation involved more diesel truck exhaust. :)

When we finally moved up a car length, I got my first glimpse at the situation. The first thing I saw was a gigantically tall wind wiggler cowboy. Then, dozens of balloons floating from the corners of things. Then, a line of people completely wrapped around the building. Then, a ginormous inflatable Red Burrito Taco Salad out front.

Yes. It was the grand opening of the new Hardee’s in Plainfield, Indiana.

My first and gut reaction was, at it usually is, to poke fun at these morons. I mean, who in their right mind would sit in this line for their turn at a speaker or parking place to get a biscuit? Is this seriously the best they could come up with for a Saturday morning? Then, I got a look at the people waiting in their cars. There were parents and grandparents and children and babies and they were all talking and laughing and oblivious to the ridiculousness of it all. Dang it, they were happy. Why, God, WHY? 

I read this year that the people of Denmark are the happiest among us and the primary reason is their low expectations. Denmark, meet Plainfield. Plainfield, meet Denmark. This happy lot in the middle of what used to be KKK country (a big goal around the office is to retire to some land smack dab in the middle of Martinsville, because it’s the hilly part of Indiana, and to hell with the decades of bad karma) doesn’t ask for much and doesn’t expect much. 

Damn you, Universe, for exposing me to things and cursing me with higher expectations. I know I will never be as happy as these people sitting in a line to see their new neighborhood Hardee’s on opening day. 

When I drove back by at lunchtime (contrary to popular belief, there is more than one road in Plainfield, but I had no idea that the hoopla would last into the afternoon), I noticed that a cop had been called to direct traffic. It wasn’t helping much that I could see and this, of course, opened up a whole ‘nother issue in my head: How can a traffic cop direct stopped traffic? 

Argh. Foiled again. Must stop asking why. Must stop asking why. Must stop asking why. Must stop....

Monday
26Oct2009

Do This, Don't Do That, Can't You Read the Sign?

Ogunquit / Indianapolis

I took the picture on the left driving the road to Mount Agamenticus in Oqunquit, Maine, in Spring 2002 to remind me of where and how I wanted to live someday. I took the picture on the right this weekend driving the road into the condo community here in Indianapolis. It’s no New England seacoast situation and the sun wasn't shining, but I think it's uncanny all the same.

Saturday
17Oct2009

My son, he’s no Technical Writer

In cleaning up a home computer the other day, I stumbled upon a folder named “pbj” and had to laugh. I remember it well. Seventh grade. He was so ticked off at this assignment. It took him days to even think of something to write about. He hated English classes, period, but to be told to write a document of instructions about something, anything his heart desired, pushed him over the edge of civility. 

I kept telling him, “Look around the house. There are a million things to write about. How do you connect your PlayStation? How do you play that game you always play? How do you get ready for school? How do you feed the dog?”

“I don’t know how you do this every day. Writing instruction books is so boring. I’d kill myself.” (Aw, sweet, sweet baby. Keep talkin'.)

Here’s what he ended up with:

How to make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

1. Bread.

2. Peanut butter

3. Jelly

4. Together

5. Finished

So proud. I really think he went the extra mile with that “Together” stage. He didn’t have to include that. How helpful to his audience, right?