It suddenly occurred to me a few minutes ago why blogging is so painful for me.
I've stopped thinking.
In some ways I think more than I used to. I consider things, I evaluate them, but in general, the thinking muscle has atrophied. Snippets of thought better suited to Facebook or Twitter are what my brain produces now. I find it difficult to pen a cohesive letter any more.
I'm beginning to wonder if a tumblr might not be a more appropriate venue for my lack of writerishness.
Friday, April 01, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
But...all my friends are doing it....
At least one of my friends likes to post a "things I like" list every now and then. She'll post different themes of "ten things." I must admit, I'm not nearly so ambitious, but then Dianne's written four books now (three are published, the fourth is being published), and is writing a fifth, she blogs constantly and writes "other fiction" on a regular basis. To be completely honest, when it comes to writing, she is what I wish I were. Ha! I always have been a dreamer.
But, as they say, I digress.
This is just a general, "here are things found on the intarwebs I love plus" list.
1. I love planners. I never keep them up like I should, but the idea of organizing my life on little lined pages just enthralls me. As I said, I always have been a dreamer.
2. Like Dianne, I love sticky notes; my planners have a plethora of sticky notes in them (which is a problem with digital planners: where the hell do you put the sticky notes??). But I also love paperclips and binder clamps. Once again, I think it's the whole organizational thing....I picture all my papers and to-dos neatly clippered and clamped with nifty clips and I'll be able to look at a stack and presto! I'm saved.
3. I love boxes. Of any kind. Boxes. And more boxes. And even MORE boxes. See above. My family believes I secretly know if I get enough boxes, my problems will all be solved. Heh...yeah...I'll get back with you on tht. (OMG....that search sets my heart to fluttering...BOXES!!) Oh...and these, too.
4. Let's face it, I love office/school/art supplies. Period. Different colored pens, markers, sticky notes, notebooks, paper, blank books, rulers, sketch pads, pastels, brushes, you name it. *sighs*
5. I love this room.
6. I love these bookshelves.
7. I love my new washer and dryer. After all the hassle of getting the washer to work and a part replaced, they work great. (Maytag Centennial series).
8. I love my boss. Not that way. He rocks. He might be a colonel, but he checked his ego at the door. He's still intense, demanding, and a control freak, but once you understand that he's all about the mission, you get it. There are still days when I could cheerfully boot him in his flightsuited arse, but then I can also TELL him when he annoys me. The other colonels I've worked for? Oh, hell no. He's PCSing this summer and I'm gonna miss him.
9. I love April and October. which just happen to be my and my son's birth month (April) and my mother's and three of my best friends' birth months and my anniversary month (October).
10. Kismet. Via Facebook I just found this. I love it. What amazing advice from such a youngster ;).
Now, if you're paying attention (and actually have taken a look at Dianne's lists), you'll notice a big difference. She actually writes about each item, discusses it, tells you why she likes it, irrationally or not. I suppose that's telling. It tells me why she's a writer and I'm not. But it also tells me I can't always tell you why I like something. Or, conversely, why I hate something. (Although I can easily tell you why I hate some of the ignorant stupidity surfacing these days. [Again, I digress.])
But, as they say, I digress.
This is just a general, "here are things found on the intarwebs I love plus" list.
1. I love planners. I never keep them up like I should, but the idea of organizing my life on little lined pages just enthralls me. As I said, I always have been a dreamer.
2. Like Dianne, I love sticky notes; my planners have a plethora of sticky notes in them (which is a problem with digital planners: where the hell do you put the sticky notes??). But I also love paperclips and binder clamps. Once again, I think it's the whole organizational thing....I picture all my papers and to-dos neatly clippered and clamped with nifty clips and I'll be able to look at a stack and presto! I'm saved.
3. I love boxes. Of any kind. Boxes. And more boxes. And even MORE boxes. See above. My family believes I secretly know if I get enough boxes, my problems will all be solved. Heh...yeah...I'll get back with you on tht. (OMG....that search sets my heart to fluttering...BOXES!!) Oh...and these, too.
4. Let's face it, I love office/school/art supplies. Period. Different colored pens, markers, sticky notes, notebooks, paper, blank books, rulers, sketch pads, pastels, brushes, you name it. *sighs*
5. I love this room.
6. I love these bookshelves.
7. I love my new washer and dryer. After all the hassle of getting the washer to work and a part replaced, they work great. (Maytag Centennial series).
8. I love my boss. Not that way. He rocks. He might be a colonel, but he checked his ego at the door. He's still intense, demanding, and a control freak, but once you understand that he's all about the mission, you get it. There are still days when I could cheerfully boot him in his flightsuited arse, but then I can also TELL him when he annoys me. The other colonels I've worked for? Oh, hell no. He's PCSing this summer and I'm gonna miss him.
9. I love April and October. which just happen to be my and my son's birth month (April) and my mother's and three of my best friends' birth months and my anniversary month (October).
10. Kismet. Via Facebook I just found this. I love it. What amazing advice from such a youngster ;).
Now, if you're paying attention (and actually have taken a look at Dianne's lists), you'll notice a big difference. She actually writes about each item, discusses it, tells you why she likes it, irrationally or not. I suppose that's telling. It tells me why she's a writer and I'm not. But it also tells me I can't always tell you why I like something. Or, conversely, why I hate something. (Although I can easily tell you why I hate some of the ignorant stupidity surfacing these days. [Again, I digress.])
Monday, March 21, 2011
Austin on the map
This time of year I get to thinking about Austin's notoriety. Back in 1986, a little thing called SXSW started here. There were 170 bands and about 700 people attended. I was so wrapped up in finishing school, I don't even remember if I knew about it or not. At the same time, Austin proper was about 350,000 people and the economy was just starting to tank. But it was better here than a lot of other places, so...we got an influx of people looking for work. Austin grew. By 1990, we were just under 465K in Austin proper. If you just did the math, that's 115,000 in four years.
In the wake of the most recent economic tankage, the media put it out that Austin had jobs and the economy was still clicking. Well, until all the out-of-workers from California, Michigan, and all points across the US got here. The 2010 census numbers of just under 800K I'm betting are now tens of thousands higher. And of course, we got a huge lump of new citizens after Katrina in 2005. Traffic is phenomenally worse and it wasn't that hot to begin with, due to Austin's tendency to stick its collective heads in the sand when it comes to expansion: everyone wants new business, but no one wants the infrastructure in their neighborhood (can't say as I blame them there). And, like some sort of growth gauge, SXSW featured 2400 performers and drew about 36,000...and that doesn't count all the "unofficial" bands and people who didn't actually buy tickets to the SXSW venues. There were hipsters stopping traffic on major streets, gawking, as if Austin were some kind of bizarre museum exhibit. The metrorail, usually slightly anemic in ridership, was packed to the gunwales with riders and bikes.Even though Austinites are rather laid back and easy-going, we still have jobs and kids to get to school. In a way, it reminds me of living in New Orleans. The rest of the world just thinks we party all the time. Uh...no.
I think it's cool that people think Austin is cool. It rocks that we are still labeled "the live music capital of the world" (as much a misnomer as that might be), but sometimes I wish people wouldn't enjoy Austin quite so much. In addition to everyone flocking here to take our jobs, there are about 50 kabillion festivals, sometimes two or three on any given weekend. Oh...in addition to SXSW, the rodeo was on, too. Hipsters and c'boys. I keep picturing this huge pile-up with skinny jeans, pink sunglasses, cowboy boots and manure all piled up and everyone looking rather confused.
The icing on the cake was realizing that some departing SXSWer, sometime Saturday Sunday night decided to take a souvenir. The lanyard for the Texas flag pole on the WWI memorial here in front of the UT stadium was cut and the Texas flag stolen. You read that right, from the WWI memorial. Really, people? Some folks just have no shame.
If you come to our home to party, please behave yourself, and don't steal from your hosts.
In the wake of the most recent economic tankage, the media put it out that Austin had jobs and the economy was still clicking. Well, until all the out-of-workers from California, Michigan, and all points across the US got here. The 2010 census numbers of just under 800K I'm betting are now tens of thousands higher. And of course, we got a huge lump of new citizens after Katrina in 2005. Traffic is phenomenally worse and it wasn't that hot to begin with, due to Austin's tendency to stick its collective heads in the sand when it comes to expansion: everyone wants new business, but no one wants the infrastructure in their neighborhood (can't say as I blame them there). And, like some sort of growth gauge, SXSW featured 2400 performers and drew about 36,000...and that doesn't count all the "unofficial" bands and people who didn't actually buy tickets to the SXSW venues. There were hipsters stopping traffic on major streets, gawking, as if Austin were some kind of bizarre museum exhibit. The metrorail, usually slightly anemic in ridership, was packed to the gunwales with riders and bikes.Even though Austinites are rather laid back and easy-going, we still have jobs and kids to get to school. In a way, it reminds me of living in New Orleans. The rest of the world just thinks we party all the time. Uh...no.
I think it's cool that people think Austin is cool. It rocks that we are still labeled "the live music capital of the world" (as much a misnomer as that might be), but sometimes I wish people wouldn't enjoy Austin quite so much. In addition to everyone flocking here to take our jobs, there are about 50 kabillion festivals, sometimes two or three on any given weekend. Oh...in addition to SXSW, the rodeo was on, too. Hipsters and c'boys. I keep picturing this huge pile-up with skinny jeans, pink sunglasses, cowboy boots and manure all piled up and everyone looking rather confused.
The icing on the cake was realizing that some departing SXSWer, sometime Saturday Sunday night decided to take a souvenir. The lanyard for the Texas flag pole on the WWI memorial here in front of the UT stadium was cut and the Texas flag stolen. You read that right, from the WWI memorial. Really, people? Some folks just have no shame.
If you come to our home to party, please behave yourself, and don't steal from your hosts.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Have we always been this nuts?
To put it simply: this country has gone insane. I'm really beginning to believe that the apocalypse will not come from outside, from some foreign invader, but from the inside. We will self-destruct on stupidity. Just as scientists are discovering that homosexuality is caused by a number of biological factors, I think we'll discover that conservatism is biological in origin, too. It must be...I mean, just how far can one go with no brain? With the caveat that one is just a different kind of human, the other is a defect. Yah...I know which people will read that one way and who will take it the other way.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
I'm not dead...really
I had told myself I wasn't going to be one of those web/blog people who started a site and then just disappeared off the face of the earth. Well, I suppose that's true, because here I am, but it's been three months. Several times I said, "I need to go make a post, but I just don't feel like it." and blew it off. I'm paying for this g-damned site, g-damn it!
Part of keeping a website/blog is to chronicle the things that happen (especially in my case, since my memory resembles nothing so much as a screen door...with holes in it...) and it would have been nice if I'd been on top of things...oh, well.
In today's news, it's cold. Friggin' cold. I know those of you up in Yankeeland don't think 23 with a wind chill of 10 is all that cold, but in Central Texas...for the record...that's cold. And it's icy. But it's business as usual (BAU). Bleah. My van stopped blowing warm air halfway into work...I'm hoping it's just a confused thermostat...we'll see this evening.
My dryer has been eating clothes for some time now. The drum is loose and things catch in the space between the drum and the housing. Minor damage being rusty marks, major damage being holes in things, like a starving moth got hold of them. And now the washer has decided to stop running. It cycles, water runs and drains, but the drum doesn't turn. The dishwasher conked out a year ago. So..I'm wondering who'll extend credit to a credit weenie like me. Farg.
Part of keeping a website/blog is to chronicle the things that happen (especially in my case, since my memory resembles nothing so much as a screen door...with holes in it...) and it would have been nice if I'd been on top of things...oh, well.
In today's news, it's cold. Friggin' cold. I know those of you up in Yankeeland don't think 23 with a wind chill of 10 is all that cold, but in Central Texas...for the record...that's cold. And it's icy. But it's business as usual (BAU). Bleah. My van stopped blowing warm air halfway into work...I'm hoping it's just a confused thermostat...we'll see this evening.
My dryer has been eating clothes for some time now. The drum is loose and things catch in the space between the drum and the housing. Minor damage being rusty marks, major damage being holes in things, like a starving moth got hold of them. And now the washer has decided to stop running. It cycles, water runs and drains, but the drum doesn't turn. The dishwasher conked out a year ago. So..I'm wondering who'll extend credit to a credit weenie like me. Farg.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
The road to hell...and all that jazz
I can't figure out if I've really been that busy or if I have a mental block against posting...or if there's just so many ideas running around in my ADHD-addled brain that I can't figure out what I want to post on. If I posted on every little idea that staggers along, there'd be a kabillion and one little, disjointed posts. I have a notebook with me, but usually when I'm thinking about such things, I can't write...you know, potty breaks, on the bus, etc. (I can't read, write, crochet, or use the computer in a moving vehicle or I get seasick).
Recently I've had posts in mind about obesity, politics, religion...huh...what else is new...but also my house, products, decorating, sewing, etc, etc. *sighs* I guess if I can't actually DO those things, I can waste time writing about them eh?
In tech news, Microsoft has done some king of weird merge with Instant Messenger (IM) and all your social media. The result...crap. I use my Hotmail account for two things (well, three, if you count IM): Facebook and for those things online where you don't want to put your REAL email account. I don't want it, or FB connecting to everything else I have. It's not that I have anything to hide, per se, but there are elements of my life I'd just really not like terribly public, you know? FB is my public face. I have friends who are co-workers, students in our department, relatives, friends who are not necessarily in my "inner circle," as it were, and I'd rather the two worlds not collide. although a couple of my close family read this site, I'd really like to keep the rest of the fambly blissfully ignorant of it. R says-re work and the 'net--to get ready for the "cloud." WTF-ever the "cloud" is. I neither want nor need my life clouded, thank you very much. There is a sufficient number of people, were they to stumble across this site and read it, who could quite handily figure out who I am. That's fine, I have no problem with that, but I don't want to advertise.
I have an LJ account and I've not posted out there in ages. Every once in a blue moon, I go out and catch up on everyone's posts (I have about 6 or 7 friends there), but haven't felt compelled to post. I've even been half-tempted to delete my FB account recently, after a mutual FB/LJ friend (and a very close personal friend) posted that some of her FB friends should "shut [our] cakeholes" in response to a comment on FB, and a vicious attack by a guy I went to HS with. (Did you know, all you liberals, that we're un-American, stupid, ignorant, uneducated morons? Makes me wonder how the hell I graduated from one of the top universities in this country in a fairly difficult degree, with a high GPA and how I got the job I have, with the military, no less...dang...I'm such an un-American moron. Ppfftt)
The cakehole thing is a perfect example of the anonymity of the internet. While this friend might have gotten testy with me in person for saying something (and trust me, it really wasn't that bad), she never would have gone off on anyone the way she did on the 'net. (To put my feelings in perspective, she said several people had made comments, but as far as I could see, I was the only one.) Perhaps I'm overreacting; it has been known to happen and I will admit the post was not directed at me personally, but I still was hurt.
(For the record, I find the terms "piehole" and "cakehole" to be extremely rude and offensive, so perhaps that added to the overall feeling of hurtness. Dunno. They're just words I never use, kind of like "scumbag," or "douchebag." Just.plain.rude.)
I find, in general, that we say things--well type them--behind the shield of the 'net that we would never, ever in a million years say person to person. Makes me wonder if WWIII will be caused by two or three heads of state going at each other via e-mail some day.
Recently I've had posts in mind about obesity, politics, religion...huh...what else is new...but also my house, products, decorating, sewing, etc, etc. *sighs* I guess if I can't actually DO those things, I can waste time writing about them eh?
In tech news, Microsoft has done some king of weird merge with Instant Messenger (IM) and all your social media. The result...crap. I use my Hotmail account for two things (well, three, if you count IM): Facebook and for those things online where you don't want to put your REAL email account. I don't want it, or FB connecting to everything else I have. It's not that I have anything to hide, per se, but there are elements of my life I'd just really not like terribly public, you know? FB is my public face. I have friends who are co-workers, students in our department, relatives, friends who are not necessarily in my "inner circle," as it were, and I'd rather the two worlds not collide. although a couple of my close family read this site, I'd really like to keep the rest of the fambly blissfully ignorant of it. R says-re work and the 'net--to get ready for the "cloud." WTF-ever the "cloud" is. I neither want nor need my life clouded, thank you very much. There is a sufficient number of people, were they to stumble across this site and read it, who could quite handily figure out who I am. That's fine, I have no problem with that, but I don't want to advertise.
I have an LJ account and I've not posted out there in ages. Every once in a blue moon, I go out and catch up on everyone's posts (I have about 6 or 7 friends there), but haven't felt compelled to post. I've even been half-tempted to delete my FB account recently, after a mutual FB/LJ friend (and a very close personal friend) posted that some of her FB friends should "shut [our] cakeholes" in response to a comment on FB, and a vicious attack by a guy I went to HS with. (Did you know, all you liberals, that we're un-American, stupid, ignorant, uneducated morons? Makes me wonder how the hell I graduated from one of the top universities in this country in a fairly difficult degree, with a high GPA and how I got the job I have, with the military, no less...dang...I'm such an un-American moron. Ppfftt)
The cakehole thing is a perfect example of the anonymity of the internet. While this friend might have gotten testy with me in person for saying something (and trust me, it really wasn't that bad), she never would have gone off on anyone the way she did on the 'net. (To put my feelings in perspective, she said several people had made comments, but as far as I could see, I was the only one.) Perhaps I'm overreacting; it has been known to happen and I will admit the post was not directed at me personally, but I still was hurt.
(For the record, I find the terms "piehole" and "cakehole" to be extremely rude and offensive, so perhaps that added to the overall feeling of hurtness. Dunno. They're just words I never use, kind of like "scumbag," or "douchebag." Just.plain.rude.)
I find, in general, that we say things--well type them--behind the shield of the 'net that we would never, ever in a million years say person to person. Makes me wonder if WWIII will be caused by two or three heads of state going at each other via e-mail some day.
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