Theme Music to Life

If I was to choose theme music for my life. This piece would be my theme.


When I hear it, I listen for the silence between the notes and I'm transported...


I love the way Mstislav Rostropovich performs it, but I couldn't embed his video here. DP gave me the entire work a couple of Christmases ago. It's wonderful to write to.


I hope you enjoy it.


I've had different theme music at different times of my life. What is your theme music?

Powerless Again! But Not Really.

Wow. Blogger goes down a day and the world does not cease.

Facebook provides.

At least Facebook provided a way to know that you weren’t the only one who couldn’t get into Blogger, and it provided a place to complain and trash Blogger.

It kind of gave me a lesson in “how important is this, really?”

That’s probably why I’m posting so late today. It’s not a big deal.

What a relief.

Don’t get me wrong. I panicked and kept trying to get into Blogger from different ways. I freaked when I couldn’t access specific posts. I ran a virus scan and tried again. Finally, I went to the Source of All Information…Facebook. 

Whew! And then...what just happened?

Deep down I've always felt there will come a time when I will disconnect from social media entirely. It would be easy since I do not use Twitter and I do not have a “mobile device” other than a basic pay-by-the-minute cell phone. For me it’s just Blogger and Facebook and that is enough to connect and keep up with.

Delete and Erase would take care of all of it. Unless, of course, I actually get a book published and then it would be a whole other matter entirely.

So, until then I’m here to enjoy!

Too Sleepy for Yes

It's 8:00 at night and it is still light out. This does not feel natural to me. The night time is a time of pulling in, of winding down, of being still and resting. To have it light implies I should be doing something other than that.

I should be out consuming, spending money and getting into debt like a good citizen.

It’s after 8:00 PM and birds are chirping outside!

I had an opportunity to say yes, but I chose no.

A Maine author was scheduled to speak at our local city library Thursday night at 6:30. She is Pulitzer Prize winning author Elizabeth Strout, creator of said prize winning novel, "Olive Kitteridge," which is set in Maine.

I was too tired. I was anxious to get home after a full week of work for the first time in three weeks (sick days led to long weekends). I gave it some thought, but I could not find the motivation to say yes.

Argh. I'm disappointed in myself but I'm glad I went home. We had a rough night Wednesday because Buzz was sick and whining through the night. I got up a couple of times, DP got up a couple of times. The cats were wondering what was going on and wanted to eat breakfast at 2:30 in the morning, and wouldn't let it go… So I was too tired to say yes.

Instead, I said YES to going to bed early!

There you have it.

There is always a yes in life.

Small Milestone

Yesterday this blog reached the 1,000 visitor mark!

A special “thank you” to those of you who return regularly and make up a significant portion of that count! I’ve taken the steps to make sure I’m not counted.

I seem to be averaging about 25 visits a day but I have 12 Followers. Hmm? Any of you wish to click the follow button? It’s easy!

So what is my progress on my Yes goals?

It’s hard to measure that based on the last week because of my “under the weather” status. I’m finally coming out from under that. I did take a sick day from work and did not go to church or choir practice on Sunday.  

Since my focus has mostly been on Easter, Snafu and then being sick. I have not created a lot of openings for opportunities to say yes. I have a pending invitation to visit my brother in Florida…(G - Anytime you want to send me possible dates, we’ll talk more). Otherwise, I’ve been told I’m “on the roster now for being a regular cantor” at church. I guess I’m okay with that.

I have seen and heard little dogs, but they have not crossed into our yard. By the way, this incident I consider a “Say yes to saying Nooooooo!” moment and so include it here.

 I’m thinking about starting a new business called “Screaming Banshee.”  Just hire me for a modest fee to run up the driveway and scream at the object of your frustration (neighbors, ex-lovers, mothers). I can come in various outfits, raincoat included, but the rake is optional.

Comments and Replies

Okay, I need to pause here and ask about blogging etiquette with regards to comments and replying to them. Now that I want to reply to comments more often, I want to be sure the commenter actually gets my reply.

I’ve known some bloggers who make the trip over to your blog and make a reply via the comments on whatever post you have up. Something like – “In regards to your comment on my blog post about such and such, blah, blah, blah…”

And then I see blog authors use a comment within that same post to make a reply. Something like – “@Lisa: I know what you mean, blah, blah, blah…”

I’ve done both those and I’ve written posts addressing everyone’s comments.

I don’t know what I’m doing.

I know WordPress does things a bit differently and allows specifically for a reply to a comment, but Blogger doesn’t.

Do you “subscribe” to the comments and then get an email when other comments are left? Do you check back on a comment you made to see if there was an author’s response? This I hadn’t done until very recently.

I’m just looking for your feedback on how you do it and what you’ve found that works best. Thank you!!

One note about yesterday’s post – I reread it later in the day and cringed. The grammar was horrible! Run on and on and on! Grammar has never been my strongest skill, but I try to edit and clean things up before I post them. Clearly I did not have my wits about me at 5:00 AM, because I pushed the Publish button before I did my editing. I usually set it up to publish about 7:00 AM just so I can look at it again after I’ve had a shower and some coffee. 

Oops! Not this time J.

Bizarroland

It's 5:00 AM and there is nothing in my brain but an odd dream I woke up with. I was with a small group of people who were forced to exchange lives with another group (who planned the whole venture), but they lived in a different dimension beyond a special room. We went in one door from our world into a small hotel room with a couple of beds, a bath room and a bureau and a door on the opposite wall. Walking through that opposing door gave you a head rush after which the people on the other side would slap a "device" on your wrist which made you comply with their wishes.


Odd thing was they were just ordinary people. I was taken in by a family headed by a real skinny man and a large woman. I remember being excited that I was going to cook as I sat at the womans bar while she chopped onions in a fry pan. 


There were children in the background but I don't remember them. An older woman, an aunt, I guessed, was sitting in an easy chair and hoping she'd studied enough to be the nun she planned to take the life of.


I remember being particularly concerned that I had good sneakers to wear and plenty of socks and underwear, and I was upset because couldn't find my Swiss Army knife which wasn't in the jewelry box where I keep it.


And that's the kind of thing that goes on in my brain when I'm asleep. Sounds like that makings of a short sci-fi story.

Hi Ho

What a luxury it’s been to stay home sick and write. Today, Monday morning, I must return to the wild world of insurance and continue my paid mission to spread the cheer.

Why don’t I work at a book store?

Because I’m well suited for office work.

I crave routine and I create it where there isn’t any. I’m a natural organizer. That’s not to say I don’t like to mix it up now and then…usually every twenty-eight days or so.

When I took two years off from the workforce to write, I created a daily routine and had a space within my day for writing, getting the mail, doing chores.

I know that in retail and many other jobs, they mix up your schedule so you work various slots of hours during the given work week. I hate that. Waiting for your manager to make the schedule to see when you’d be working…would you have a weekend day off? I never understood why it had to be that way and the idea of subjecting myself to it, well it’s worse than the idea of working in insurance.

And to be honest, I choose not to do much “selling” of health insurance. I choose to be the account manager, the support person for my salesperson boss. I do not need the sales goal pressure, or the client loss disappointment. Even though those affect me, they do not run or ruin my work.

I got a lot of organizing and writing done on my projects the two full days I managed to focus on them. I feel real good about that. I have no goal or deadline for finishing it, so I’m free to progress at my own pace. Until another day…

By the way, our neighbors treated us to an hour’s worth of Foreigner and other 80’s music  blasted through their speakers on Sunday afternoon.

Still haven’t seen any little dogs, though J.

Happy Monday.