It Sounds Like Joy

Ever notice how we human beings have ways of marking the passage of time? Sure, we have our calendars, our reminders, our clocks and gizmos. I’m talking about the not-so-obvious ways of marking time. The ways that mark time in subtle ways that leave you realizing after the fact how time has passed rather than noting it up front.

I am not a winter person. I like cool weather but I’m really a sunny, summer person. I mark my years mostly by noting the passage of the seasons. The months from January to the end of March are dreadful for me. In the region where I live winters are relatively mild, but temperatures can vary from a balmy 60 degrees one day to snowing and freezing levels the next. I find this pretty tough on my system. I’m always glad when Daylight Saving Time arrives. Even though I lose an hour, I can see that summer is on the way, and with it, some more consistent temperatures.

Those Little Breaks in Life: Give Yourself Permission to Take One…or Two

There’s part of me that wants to call out in a high pitched, annoying, nasally voice, “I’m baaaaack!”, but how cliché is that? Instead, I just say I feel like doing it, instead of really doing it.  If you are a detail person, you’ve noticed that the last post before this one was dated April 6.  If you’re a relational person and you liked The Wild Mind, then you noticed I haven’t been writing and you missed me.

I Took A Little Break from Blogging

Well, not so little.  It was a big enough break to get me kicked off some of those rating sites and blog lists since I didn’t post anything in over 30 days.  It was a big enough break for me to finish up the onslaught of work projects, demands and deadlines I had going during the first half of this year. It was a big enough break to give me time to rethink things. A lot of things.

Fun vs. Duty

I’m crazy busy these days doing what I consider to be a number of very fun things.  The time it is taking away from my writing, however, is less than fun.  As I was pondering this minor dilemma I began thinking how much of our society panders to our desire for self-gratification.  We want our needs met in relationships.  We want to be fulfilled in our careers. We want to be entertained and amused.  We work all year to blow our money on once-in-a-lifetime vacations that we take year after year. We leave marriages because we’ve simply fallen out of love.  We ask, “What’s in it for me?”

What are your thoughts?

Are we a hedonistic society that panders to the pleasurable? Do we look for the easy way out?  Has duty disappeared with disco?

I’m working on a post that further elaborates on this topic and I’d sure like to know what you think.  (Yes! You!)

The Writer’s Demise

Seriously, I don’t know how good (read paid and making it financially or aka J.K. Rowling and other) writers do it.

Okay, here’s the deal for me tonight. 

I have a million things spinning around in my head.  Several great topics started.  One…or two…almost finished.  Nothing ready to post.  This is not like me.  I usually post without thinking and that is painfully evident to us all…please do not comment on that reality.

But in the last 48 hours I have had…

….the I.J. break up with me (okay, really, really that’s good, because remember the post about that dating problem awhile back that got so much interaction?….Well….hahaha!)  Really, you so need to see the email, but…I haven’t had the freaking time.  He decided to break up with me (in a sense) and I decided to really do nothing about it…hmmmm…maybe I should have done something different?  But we’ll all never know because this week I have no time to sit down and write anything more thoughtful and creative than “I have no time”.  That sucks!  How do good writers get around that?

…the news delivered to me that my most recent X (God forbid there will be more than I already have) is going to be married soon.  That’s always great fun…and in my case…I’m not really joking…it is fun!  I have just one more excuse to quit here and do something else…maybe in another country or…at least at a university…whatever…I’m leaving this place and not feeling a bit bad about it…I don’t care how long it takes.  I’m not going to live in this valley and run into two brainless (okay that was mean) women who push their boobs out and look at me like, “Hey, we got what you weren’t capable of keeping.”   Yeah, have that ladies, if that’s what makes you happy.

But, of course, that all brings to mind the idea that a failed relationship is not all one person’s fault.  So, I’ve denigrated the X’s plenty…it is only fair to ask…what part of the failures do I own?  Would make for  a decent post maybe?

…Wow!  Tons of stuff on the professional front to tangle with.  I’m waffling from feeling like I have my game on to “I got next” every other minute…it’s a real trip and I kinda like it…but that ‘s because I’m in a place in life where I can afford to play…take risks…and have fun…(read, I’m secure in my job and my abilities at least right now).

…the news delivered to me that my youngest has a freakin’ high I.Q,~  Oh, man, sucks to be my kid, sucks to have friends that are school psychs….and sucks to be the cute little blonde girl who is sooo underachieving and has a (mostly) brunette brainiac mom.

I could go on, but won’t.

The writer’s demise is this…there is so much to write about…and so little time…and where do we carve that time out…because good…scrap good…any writing takes time.  Where does one find the time in the daily schedule of life? 

I guess we just wait for the weekend…

Love at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving morning, 2008.  It’s a foggy, misty morning.  I’m writing early because I might not have time later today, and I might not be inspired. I was planning to write some creative thing about being thankful in reverse…or “Things I’m Thankful I Don’t Have”, but being one of those undiagnosed ADD types, I went wandering around Wordpress instead. In my wanderings, I bumped into a couple of blog posts this morning that I thought were very good.  I thought I’d share them.  I always like it when people tell others about something that I’ve written that they found value in, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to return the favor.

The first is a new blog to me.  She writes about love, a huge, unfathomable topic and she barely scratches the surface as you can expect.  She does make some great thought-provoking points and I like the way she writes.  She also gave me much to think about and possibly blog for myself on the topic.  Her post’s title was fairly creative and I love creative.  You can read this blog post, “Love Shouldn’t Feel Like Getting Run Over By a Train” here. Now that I go back and reread the post, I notice that this particular article was written way back in 2006.  I need to get better at noticing things like that.  Even so, I liked it.  Maybe her comments will spark your thinking about the topic of love and family and your kids, if you have them.  I wonder if she’s still writing or if she’s abandoned her blog?  Hmmmm.  Whatever the case may be with her, I do agree with her title.  Been there. Done that. Bought the t-shirt.  Wore it out.  That’s why I clicked on her link.

The next post is more recently written by someone who is still writing.  His post’s topic is about doing the things you love and making money (or not) at them.  I’m pointing you to Jim’s blog, because he really is a fabulous writer.  Check out his complete post titled, The Money Will Follow (or Not), here. He also made me think…especially about this writing thing and making money at it.  His points reminded me of one of the reasons, beyond complete fear of rejection, that I haven’t yet published:  if I do what I love for a living, which in this case is writing, am I a.) good enough to make money at it? b.) is there a market for my kind of writing (and I don’t even really know for sure what that is yet, thus this blog) and c.) will it become a duty under deadlines instead of a creative outlet and intellectual passion?  (Jim didn’t so much mention that last point in his blog but the first two points were his.  They made me think of the last one.)

Anyway.  With all the talk about love this almost sounds like it could pass for a Valentine’s Day post.

I hope whatever you are doing today, that it is filled with peace, gratitude, good food, good company and some relaxation.  Anyone out there playing mud football today?