Scare Tactics

  

    

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy."  -Leo Buscaglia
(Or someone else.  I've seen this quote attributed to a number of people online...but I like Leo best of all the people who may or may not have said it.)

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     I've been noticing how much fear there is lately.  It seems to be lurking around every corner, in a million internet stories, smeared all over newsstands, and woven into a large percentage of the conversations I hear.  It's on people's faces as they board my flights (and even more so in the faces I can't see because they've got surgical masks on.)   

Onward and Upward

cosmocondina.com

     I had lunch (and a slice of pie) with a friend this week.  She gave me lots of information about protecting the material I post, growing my blog, becoming a member of an aggregate blog, and all kinds of ins and outs of blogging.

     She also gave me some valuable food for thought, asking:  What is my goal for my second year of blogging?

     I've been thinking a lot about this.

     I started the blog as writing practice.  I wanted a deadline to force myself to write, to force myself to choose a topic and focus on it, and I wanted to have a set amount written each week.  At the heart of these goals was a desire to prove to myself that I could do it.

     And I've done that.

It's a Very Small World After All

image from:  wikimotive.com

"One love.  One heart.  Let's get together and feel all right."  -Bob Marley

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     I think we'll look back and see the development of Facebook as a turning point in civilization.  The nay-sayers might see it as self-aggrandizing and time-wasting, but I see it as generous.

     ...not to mention FUN.  I see it as LIFE...on acid.  Life...squared!  Life expanded out beyond our own experience.

     And what's cooler than that?

Life: Use It Up

"Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think

 Enjoy yourself, while you're still in the pink
 The years go by, as quickly as a wink
 Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think."
 -Herbert Magidson and Carl Sigman

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     A very sweet friend suggested this week's topic.  She, actually, gave me the idea over a month ago but I have had the hardest time narrowing it down. 

     She said she'd been thinking about those things we "save for later", for a "special occasion", or for when "company" comes over; those nice pajamas, the good towels, the special box of chocolates or bottle of truffle oil, the 'good china', the 'company crystal', nice lotions...   She remembered her mom keeping sheets over their couches to prevent damage, and leaving the plastic on the lampshades to keep the dust off.  We've all known people with living rooms that may as well have had a velvet rope in front of them.  The kids weren't allowed in because Mom wanted to keep it 'nice'.  But, nice for who?  There are people who save their wedding china...'til after they are no longer married.

Stories We Tell

Thanks for dropping by for this historic event!:  Today I'm posting my 52nd weekly post.  

Thanks for sharing in the fun.  
Happy Anniversary!!  

"People think that stories are shaped by people.  In fact it's the other way around.."  - Terry Pratchett

      I'm fascinated by the little tales we repeat throughout our lives.  You know the ones; the conversation goes somewhere your little tidbit will fit in and you gleefully launch into that dusty anecdote.  (Hint:  It's often the one that makes your spouse's eyes glaze over.)

     It's also why meeting new people is such fun.  Those oldies, but goodies, become shiny new.

Here are a few of the nuggets I've been toting around the longest:

My Two Grandmothers

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     "Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do.  Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children."  -Alex Haley

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     I don't know many people as lucky as me when it comes to grandparents.  For most of my childhood all four of mine lived within walking distance.  I spent countless hours hanging out with them.      

     My father's mother was born Elizabeth Ardelta Perry.  My mother's mother was Sarah Octavia Cobb.  Oddly enough, they both went by their peculiar middle names.   I consider it a lucky break that I was not named for my grandmothers.  Sarah Elizabeth would have been nice, but that wouldn't have felt like being named for them.  My grandmothers were known, far and wide, as Ardelta and Octavia.

           My granddaddies were similarly wonderful, but my grandmothers could not have been more different.

Those Far Away Places

     The first heading I decided on for this blog was:  'Travel'.  I expected that travel posts would be a frequent feature.

      Why wouldn't it be?  I love to travel.  The main thing I do in life is travel!  Experts tell writers to 'write what they know'...and this is something I know.  Obviously, I would write posts about travel all the time.

     But, I haven't.  

The Buck Starts Here

     I was hoping a theme would develop as I did this writing.  If you were hoping that too...you'd better stop reading right now.  This week's post, once again, follows no natural progression that I can see.

     This time I'm sharing my small adventure learning how to make big money.

Organizing Junkie

Photo from "The Art of Clean Up" by Ursus Wehrli

     Here's a look at my road to organizational perdition.  I hope this will serve as a cautionary tale to anyone thinking their space needs a little tweaking.  

     It's a slippery slope from ordinary tidiness to requiring matching hangars, alphabetized spices, and precision scheduling systems  NASA would envy.   

                         ---

     Hi.  I'm Susan, and I'm an Organize-aholic.  

Grocery Store-aphobia

     I never feel as alone in the Universe as I do when I'm grocery shopping.  For me, a grocery store would be the ideal setting for a horror film.  

     There's just something about the weird lighting, the narrow aisles, wide carts, and that smell of deli fried chicken.  It smells just like the chicken your grandma made...but we all know it's not even in the same culinary universe.  Does anyone even buy it? 

     Add in the long lines, uncontrollable carts, grumpy zombie-shoppers, those signs that never have the item you're looking for on them...  And the basic fact that you're engaged in a never-ending task of buying food...only to need more in a matter of days.  

     ** Sccccrrreeeeaaaammmm!!!  ** 

                         

Valentine's Day Revisited

     I've been reading through my journals and came across a piece I wrote on a Valentine's Day not long before Michael and I got together.  (So, no, this isn't about me and Michael.)  

     It's a time capsule of Valentine's past and a reminder that the most important relationship any of us has, is with ourselves.

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February 14, 1995
New York, NY

     He called this morning.

     I hadn't heard from him in months, but knew he'd call today.  Because it's Valentine's Day?  Because he likes to mess with my hard-won peace of mind?  I don't really know.

     Even though I knew he'd call, when I picked up the phone I was thinking it would be my friend, Melissa, or Carol, my neighbor,...or anyone, really, except him.

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     I surprise myself when I answer his "Hello.", with "Don't call me anymore, okay?" I don't recognize myself; I sound like Maureen O'Sullivan-no-nonsense, serious-as-a-heart-attack.  But, then I'm not sure what to do.  I stand there staring at the blank white wall in front of me, hearing the sudden clatter of my heartbeat, and the startled silence at the other end of the line.

What Hill?

"The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time, any fool can do it, there ain't nothin' to it.  Nobody knows how we got to the top of the hill...but since we're on our way down, might as well enjoy the ride."    -James Taylor

   

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      I had dinner with a sweet, young, new-hire named Xiul (See Uhl).  We were talking about how tiring the job can be.  I told her about when I was a new-hire in New York.  I'd come in from these 10 hour all-night international flights, drag my bags through the city, and finally get to my apartment.  I remember looking up from the bottom of the four flights of stairs, wondering how I was going to get myself and my bags all the way up to my apartment.

     Xiul earnestly listened, nodded, and was, obviously, trying to picture the scene.

     She said:  "Were you skinny then?"

Quite Contrary

     A couple of years ago I worked with a flight attendant...we'll just call her Mary.

     I thought she looked familiar:  "I think we've flown together."

     "No, we haven't."  Mary said immediately.

      We fly with thousands of people and everyone does start to run together.  If someone said they remembered me, I would just feel rude for forgetting them.  

     Mary and I worked in main cabin together on that trip and it was total misery.  It took me a while to figure out why.

Crap Management: Techno-Clutter

    It's not like anyone aspires to become a hoarder.  It's just that stuff you bring home never senses when it's outworn it's welcome.  Obsolete technology is the worst.

     It just sits there.  

In Sickness and In Health

     Michael and I have completely different styles of being sick.

     Michael is not one of those men who turns into a big-baby when he gets sick.  Mainly he tries to pretend it's not happening-doesn't want to talk about it at all.  He pretends so convincingly that it can be a couple of days before I even realize he's sick.

     If he's hurt I may never know.  Just one small example:  He hit his thumb with a hammer while we were restoring our house.   I swear he hid it from me.  Months later, I noticed the blood blister under his nail.

     "When did that happen?"

     "When I was finishing the trim in the living room."

     "Dang!"  I said.  "If that had been me, I would have told you about it every day."

     "I know."  he said...sounding resigned.

Bewitched

    I overheard some lines from a movie Michael was watching.  It was all about witches.  Now I can't think about anything else.

     In the movie a professor was lecturing his class about how witches often use 'familiars'.  He explained that these are animals that do the bidding of their witches and said that cats are often used for this purpose.  

      Control A Cat?  Hilarious!  That's some powerful magic, indeed.

Good Intentions

     I love New Year's Resolutions.  I love them so much I make them all the time.  I've made thousands of them!!!

     Every once in a while I actually stick to one.