Off kilter

Being sick is one of my least favorite things. Being sick on my days off is even worse. So only a few things for my Life Unchained list. Then another aspirin and back to bed.
20- Spin yarn.
21- Conquer a fear.
22- Learn to roller skate.
23- Take a trip by train.

War and the written word

War made me. No, I'm not a veteran. But if it weren't for World War II and a handwritten letter I wouldn't be who I am. How does a young man from the dusty desert of West Texas met a young woman from Michigan's Great Lakes Bay region? Written on the camp's gold embossed stationery and dated in August of 1943:

Dear Miss Shirley,
Louis Sylvester told me about you so I thought I might write to you. I hope you don't mind.

She didn't.
They began to write back and forth. Beautiful letters that go from Miss Shirley to Shirley Darling. After he returned home from Europe, they got married and moved to Texas to start a family. They had three sons, the eldest would become a war veteran himself. That son would elope to Mexico with young redheaded woman before he shipped out to Vietnam. His daughter was born while he was in Southeast Asia. He came home when she was nine months old and they have been trying to make up for lost time ever since.

So I guess you could say two wars made me. I not only owe my freedom to veterans, I owe my life to two of them. My grandparents' love started with a letter. That love grounded me and gave me a touchstone in my life. I miss them everyday.

So this Veterans Day, thank a veteran and don't forget their loved ones either. It isn't easy being the loved one of someone serving their country. It takes great strength to serve and great strength to share the sacrifices of one who serves.

A passage

I've been trying to read more. I love to books, but I seem to put them on the back-burner a lot lately. So today I was getting in a few minutes of reading while waiting and this passage from Anne Rice's "Angel Time" really spoke to me for some reason.

"But in every family there are bad people, and weak people, and some people who can't or won't withstand the trials of life, and who fail spectacularly."

I don't think I'm a bad person, but perhaps I am a weak one. I'm definitely one who tries to avoid trials. It's something I need to work because I don't want to fail spectacularly.

Life unchained: this list continues

So I woke up today stumped for a post. I'm working on a really good one (I hope) for Veterans Day and I'll have more time to come up something tomorrow. So for today, just additions to my Life Unchained list, again special thanks to Mighty Girl for the inspiration.

10- Swim with dolphins.
11- Visit the Smithsonian.
12- See a bear in Alaska.
13- Get to visit a specific relative face-to-face.
14- Volunteer my time for a cause I believe in.
15- Have one room in my house just the way I want it.
16- Help someone anonymously.
17- Knit a pair of socks.
18- Paint a picture.
19- See a Broadway show in New York.

You didn't really think I was going to end with an even number, did you?

Time change and life unchained

Daylight savings time has never really made sense to me. The idea that we can trick ourselves into using daylight seems a waste of time, but on a positive note it did get me up an hour earlier. Two loads of laundry are done, the dogs are fed and water has been added to the fish tank. Oh, and I've had more time to kill on facebook and surfing the Net.

I figured today would be a good day to start my Life Unchained list inspired by Maggie Mason's Mighty Life List. In the spirit of her list, I will have some simple things and some major items. One slight difference is she has 100 items, I will have 99. It's one of my eccentricities that I prefer odd numbers, especially nines. So I will announce the first nine today and keep adding as the ideas occur. Also it's just random order not order of importance. Notice I said eccentricities, not quirks or crazy. That's the beauty of being from the South. Obsessive compulsive much, why yes, why do ask?

My Life Unchained List (aka the bucket list)
1- Take B fishing at the coast where my grandparents took me.
2- Get a passport.
3- Travel to Ireland and kiss the Blarney Stone.
4- Make blackberry jam.
5- Go sailing.
6- Write a novel.
7- Get a freelance job.
8- Learn to fry chicken like my grandmother.
9- Publish a poem.

And so it goes

As we were standing in line purchasing our shiny new BlackBerry phones, he says "I bet it will be cheaper tomorrow." The agent reassured us we were getting an extra discount and waived activation fees, so I was pretty pleased. Today I open the paper to see an ad that offers them $50 cheaper and in three new colors.

Ahhh

It's been the best kind of Saturday, relaxed and drama-free. I splurged a little on a new phone and new bedding. Bonuses are a good thing. I'm kicking around some post ideas for next week -- some serious and some fun. I've been inspired by Mighty Girl's Mighty Life List. It's similar to a bucket list and I plan to call mine the "Life Unchained List" to match my freelance company name. It might even make a good blog title, but I'm kind of attached to this old thing.

Five for Friday

Since the larger posts I am working on haven't come to fruition yet, here are five random thoughts for Friday and Day 5 of NaBloPoMo.

1- I'm not sure how I got here from there.

2- Why I have I formed more attachments to stuff than I have to people? Now the stuff smothers me and makes it hard to let people in. What do I do to fix that?

3- Why can't most people talk about politics or religion in a civil manner? Even though I enjoy exploring both, I have had to avoid conversations all week to stay out of the vicious fray.

4- I'm very organized at work, yet very disorganized at home. I need to find a balance.

5- Friday is my favorite day of the week. It's my day to recharge, but I need to find ways to make it more productive without adding more stress.

The nanny state or scapegoats r us

Have you seen this? Law curbs Happy Meal toys. Instead of blaming a lack or activity or too much food for childhood obesity, San Francisco is blaming the toy in the box. I'm all for healthier choices but this kind of mandate is just another example of people refusing to take responsibility. An occasional kid's meal with a toy is not going to make a kid fat. I've had a weight problem all my life and most of my childhood was spent in a town that didn't even have a McDonald's until I was in high school. If I had to relate my weight problem to anything it would be that I preferred books to sports. Should I blame authors and publishers for my health issues? If it's your problem, own it. I say playing the blame game is a waste of time and counterproductive to fixing any problem.

Muddled thoughts

Here I am at Day 3 with hundreds of topics in my head that I can't get to the page. Wandering is what I seem to spend a lot of time doing. My mind wanders to frivolous things, my body wanders through life. I can focus on the minute details, but the big picture eludes me. I thought I'd have my shit together by this age.

Commitment

In an effort to get back to writing, I have committed to posting every day this month through National Blog Posting Month. I expect to write a lot of crap just because of the volume, but may be in the process also come up with something clever, funny or insightful. The goal is to find my voice again. I know it's in here somewhere.

From the inbox

Apparently I have a previously unknown child who likes to skip classes a few times a week at Flowery Branch High School in Georgia. Matthew, please go to school. You might need that knowledge later in life. And while you are there, please give the attendance secretary your mother's real e-mail address. Thanks so much.

I'd say that's about right.

Be happy -- or merry

It's that time of year again, and I've been thinking about this whole "Happy Holidays" versus "Merry Christmas" issue.

Apparently many people I know feel strongly about it. I, however, don't. I really don't see the harm in wishing someone glad tidings in whatever form.

You can tell me "Happy Holidays," "Merry Christmas," "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Hanukkah" (although that one would be slightly strange since I'm not Jewish). As long as it said with good intentions and you mean it, we're good. If you choose to say nothing at all, I'm also OK with that. My policy is you shouldn't be forced to say anything you don't want to say, and you should only say what you mean.

If someone wants to wish me good will, I'll take it. It really doesn't matter how he or she says it.

A Thanksgiving request

Sunday I was building 1A at the newspaper when we got word of breaking news. I began reworking the page as more details came in.

There will be four empty chairs at somebody's Thanksgiving table today. A father, a mother and their two tiny children, 4 and 2, were found dead from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning. They didn't have electricity and were using a borrowed generator to stay warm. As the story progressed into Monday, we learned the lone survivor of this young family was a 6-year-old who had been staying with her grandmother during the weekend.

On Wednesday, our reporters covered two fatal accidents -- two more empty chairs in the blink of an eye.

In my job we see some good, but we also see a lot of sad and bad. I don't want to be a downer on this holiday, but I want to make a request because you are all important to me. Please be careful, please seek help if you need it, please take care of each other and please hug the ones you love.

I wish you all a blessed and safe Thanksgiving.

Food for thought

A conversation via text message:
Me: The CEO of Freedom is resigning to become the CEO of Playboy. Thought you'd appreciate that.
Him: That's f***ing cool!!!!!!!
Me: Porn is probably more stable work than papers right now.
Him: And pays a hell of a lot more as well ...

What this country needs is

a little more common sense, a little less panic and a whole lot more personal responsibility.

Mom's good advice

At a very rough time in my life, my mom sent me a card with these words: "Don't forget, you are stronger than you think you are." And she was right.

Plink, plunk

I'm playing with answering prompts at www.plinky.com to get over some writer's block.

When I started using the Internet

I learned a few computer basics in high school and college, but didn't get online until I met my future husband. He had a smoking hot Tandy TRS-100 (an example of this modern technology: http://oldcomputers.net/index.html) Seems like we spent days on the local BBS chat. We really thought we were computer geeks when we got a Tandy desktop with external 300 baud modem. And when we bumped up to 1200 baud, we were hauling butt! Now I whine that the cable modem is soooo slow.