Tag: memes

come up with your own

I’m going to advise you to find your own quote about laughter. There are about a million of them encouraging you to do it for your good health and state of mind, and these are times when laughing is hard. I was glad for today’s idol challenge:

Because an Instagram friend recently posted this photo:


September 2 — Laughing cropped photo ©Ed Roach

Thinking about the effects of climate change courtesy of Hurricane Ida on the country, and the effects of yet another Texas law stripping rights from women and the poor, does not keep me from thinking about COVID. I haven’t verified the numbers in the below captures, but they are thought provoking and also nothing to laugh about.

I guess today’s household task to keep me too busy to freak out will be making Tom’s bathroom clean like mine. And I have one disk left in the Feel Flows collection to listen to.

Thirty days hath September…

Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November
All the rest have thirty-one
Excepting February alone
And that has twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap year

I can never remember any line but the first one of that little poem that was meant to teach the number of days in each calendar month. I’d rather cut out a day of August and give it to September, especially this year, but nobody asked me. So I’ll celebrate the thirty days of September in my own way.

I have four newly revised, full novels in the saga and 140ish pages of the next one. I’m thinking of slashing a bunch from those 140 pages and revising/rewriting. With that in mind, I decided to take a brief writing break, because August writing was intense and challenging.

I’ve made some daily goals to give me structure until I write again:

  • Do at least one housekeeping task per day.
  • Listen to music, not as background, but for the music alone.
  • Do one of the things that allows my brain the freedom to think about my fiction writing (coloring, sewing, petting a dog or four, creating art, contemplating, or writing poetry/lyrics).

Today, I cleaned my bathroom. That’s some exciting material right there, I know. Thank your lucky stars I’m not giving you details about last night’s palmetto bug adventure.


I’m still listening to the Feel Flows CD box set. I did that while coloring today, and I was moved to tears by 4:47 minutes of an alternate version of a song I already love. I guess I must be a multitasker, because music + coloring = a breakthrough idea on that fifth book. SCORE!

Sometimes when I post about the Beach Boys, whether it’s their music, their history, or their drummer, I feel like I need to issue a disclaimer. I’ll put one at the bottom of this post to amuse myself.

Someone I know only via a social media site who’s a big Eddie Van Halen fan is doing a “30 Days Idol Challenge” in EVH’s honor. I don’t know if I can find a photo for all of these categories for my muse Dennis Wilson, but I can enjoy the heck out of trying. If I know the photographer, I’ll give credit. If you are the photographer, please tell me so I can credit you!


September 1 — In sunglasses cropped photo ©Ed Roach, 1980

Disclaimer: Unless you are a member of the Beach Boys, or have traveled or recorded with the band, or personally know members of the band, or are related to a member of the band, or you are married to me, or you are my lifelong friend since the age of twelve, or you are a sibling or cousin who handed over your Beach Boys records to my care, carefully consider what you might say to me. Do not tell me “facts” about the band. I’m likely aware of them, true and false. Do not talk about the bad things connected to the band, e.g., mental illness, addiction, untimely death, a fraudulent therapist, or a certain psychopathic cult leader. I’m fully educated about how these impacted the lives of band members, and they aren’t fun for me to talk about though you’re certainly entitled to find them tantalizing on your own time. Do not tell me what years of their music are superior to other years unless you are a music critic with a by-line in a reputable publication or you did several years of research to write an authorized book about one of the band members. Do not perpetuate the contrived myth that the Beach Boys and the Beatles resented or competed with each other. That applies to some of their fans, not their musicians (a single Beach Boys member’s rambling speech at a recognition ceremony notwithstanding). There are two current versions of the Beach Boys: the band that tours under the name, and the band that Brian Wilson and Al Jardine, among others, work and perform with. If you don’t know which of these two bands has my loyalty and owns my heart, do you even know me?

Tense

I got upsetting news today, and it’s taken the wind right out of my sails. I’m sure I won’t be stranded here for long. It’s not my nature. But I don’t have the emotional stamina to come up with a blog post.

I did have a breakthrough in a chapter today. That’s something positive. So here’s a writer/English teacher joke.

Tuesday’s meme question

30th January – How are you doing on those New Year’s Resolutions?

Can’t break ’em if you don’t make ’em!

I would like to note that I wanted to post every day on my blog in 2017, and I managed it. Sometimes I had to write out my blog posts or take photos, then do a bunch of posts at once on individual days, but still… I did it!

I haven’t made that promise to myself this year, but so far so good.

Today’s meme question

29th January – Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

A little of Column A, a little of Column B. It really depends on the situation. For many years I thought I was an introvert, then I realized I was mostly choosing to observe rather than participate because 1. I think I may be from another planet, and I’m here to study humans, and 2. I’m a writer, and everything I see and hear is material. It’s all going into the mental journal for later use.

January meme

Here’s a January meme I’m borrowing from my friend Mark on LiveJournal. I’ll finish out the missing days as they arrive.

1st January – Thing you are most looking forward to this month

The repairs to our house five months after the flood.

2nd January – Do you have any new year’s resolutions?

No.

3rd January – Are you part of any fandoms? What do you do in them?

Not really. There are books, movies, and TV shows I like a lot, but I’m not much of a joiner in any case, so I’m not in fandoms.

4th January – Where would you most like to travel?

Outside the U.S., Iceland, but since I don’t fly… I’d also like to visit the Pacific Northwest, the only part of the U.S. I haven’t been.

5th January – What was your favorite class in high school

English. If it involved reading and writing, I owned it. Although I had a physiology class with a brilliant teacher that still serves me well today.

6th January – What was your least favorite class in high school?

Geography.

7th January – What is your all time favorite song?

There’s just no way to narrow this down, but Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” always hovers around the number one spot.

8th January – Do you listen to audibooks or podcasts, or just music?

Only music.

9th January – What would you/did you name your daughter/s?

I have no children, but Shannon was a strong contender.

10th January – What would you/did you name your son/s?

Again, no children, but Benjamin and Samuel were my top choices. Instead I gave the names to characters.

11th January – What do you do for fun?

I have almost no leisure time these days, but since there are places I can’t work (say, in bed before sleeping), I can always read.

12th January – What did you want to be when you grew up?

A teacher and a writer. Have done both!

13th January – What did you become when you grew up?

I’ve done so many things, from waitressing to legal secretary to bookseller to working at a dog track, to dog rescue, to editor. Writing is still and always will be what I love.

14th January – What do you want to do when you retire?

Write.

15th January – Have you ever been the target of bigotry?

Not in a truly damaging sense as I’ve seen other people targeted.

16th January – Who is your hero?

My parents. Tom. I’m fairly cautious now about making heroes of public figures, but Rosa Parks comes to mind.

17th January – What makes someone worthy of being a hero?

Compassion. Character. Courage.

18th January – Do you collect anything?

Too much! Dolls, books, pigs.

19th January – Show us your handwriting

I just took a snapshot of what’s on my desk so I wouldn’t be tempted to show you my pretty handwriting. These are the messy lists I keep that are part cursive, part print, and barely legible.

20th January – Describe the place you keep your computer as if you were setting a scene in a novel.

Right now it’s in my hoarder room—the place where everything has landed that’s not in storage as our house is worked on. Since I love order, this random mess of empty furniture, stacks of clothes and miscellaneous boxes and collections of things is making me crazy.

21st January – Are you naturally messy or organized?

Organized. That’s why this clutter is a terrible distraction.

22nd January – Do you have any siblings? Tell us about them.

An older brother and an older sister. I LOVE THEM. They are smart, funny, liberal. They are storytellers and keen observers of life. They have big hearts and open minds. My brother is one of the most intelligent people I know, and my sister has the most tender of hearts.

23rd January – What is your favorite book?

Another one that’s hard to narrow down. To Kill a Mockingbird, most probably. A strong contender is A Confederacy of Dunces.

24th January – What is your favorite movie?

For a long time, it was Ordinary People. I love the Godfather movies. Moonstruck is another favorite.

25th January – What is your favorite TV show?

I don’t think there’s anything current I’m watching on TV. I binge Netflix. I will say “The West Wing” is probably one of my favorites and I’d definitely watch it all again. I do love “The Crown” on Netflix, and I loved “Downton Abbey.” It’s that Anglophile thing.

26th January – If the item immediately to your left were your weapon against a zombie plague, how screwed would you be?

Yay, I’m going to beat someone with a cheap desk lamp! I’m completely screwed. But until it’s broken, at least I’ll be able to see what’s going to kill me.

27th January – If you could give your younger self any advice, what would it be?

Stop wasting time on boys. WRITE MORE. And believe in yourself. Everybody is not smarter than you. They’re faking it.