Melody + Rhythm = Music

I miss my dad.

He passed away back in July 2004 of pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 65.

I never really knew how much I missed him until a few days ago.

For most of February, I've been struggling to come up with fresh and original content for my blog. It finally hit the breaking point on the 17th, when I sat down at my computer and tried on four separate occasions, in a span of twenty minutes, to write a blog post for today (the tentative title of the post was "Mastering the Art of Non-Success), but ultimately I struck out.

On the morning of the 18th, I composed a wonderful piece of self deprecating fiction, which was in essence announcing a brief vacation from the Cyber World (however, got a surprise for everyone in regards to that announcement).

On the afternoon of the 18th, I was sitting in my cubicle, sorting timesheets, listening to the radio and feeling a little bit out of sorts. Because I was feeling a little out of sorts, I decided to pop in a c.d. of The Seekers. Within a few minutes, I got to thinking about my dad, because basically this was the kind of music he listened to, and the kind of music I grew up on.

By the time it got to track #8, I was having a full blown trip down memory lane. Not only did it accentuate the absence of my dad, but it also got me to thinking about a few other songs that moved me in similar ways, not only thinking about my dad, but also about my grandmother, who passed away in the early 90's.

So, in no particular order of importance, here are a few songs that have profoundly affected me in the past couple of decades.

1} The aforementioned track #8: When The Stars Begin To Fall by The Seekers. My dad listened to a lot of folk music and The Seekers were one of his favorite groups. Almost all of their songs featured strings (guitars and upright bass) but no drums. This song opens with less than one dozen notes finger picked, followed by these five words repeated twice: "My Lord What A Morning". I find it to be a simple song that delivers an amazing punch to the soul.

2} Bridge Over Troubled Water: When this song is done right, the lyrics become poignant and the music haunting. Done wrong, you get the bombast without the emotion (Simon & Garfunkel). This song was done at a memoriam for my Dad some six months after he passed away, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. The version that does it for me, is a duet by Johnny Cash and Fiona Apple, accompanied with just a piano and guitar. Nothing else can match the emotional impact. Nothing.

3} What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong: This is another one of those songs that can pack a powerful emotional punch. It is the type of song that shouldn't have been used for commercial purposes. There is a unique sad quality to the song that I think is perfectly accentuated by the minimal orchestration accompanying it.

4} Somewhere Over The Rainbow: Honestly, the first time that this song really touched me, was when it was used in the show "E.R.", when they wrote out Anthony Edward's character. It was tastefully done and it showed how the medium of television when properly used, can enhance a song. The version that I enjoy was done by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, and in fact, it was the last video shown on a short lived foray by YouTube into music television.

5} You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim) by Rod Stewart: Some of you may pooh-pooh this choice from a man who somewhere on this planet is still considered sexy, but whenever I hear this song, I think about my grandmother who passed away in 1994. I was very close to my grandmother and her death hit me a little hard, and still bothers me to this day. No link since I couldn't find one that satisfied my needs.

So, I wanna wish a belated 71st Happy Birthday to my Dad.

I love you.

And I still miss you.

Hi Ho The Dairy-O, A Bloggin' I Will Go!

Yeah, major disconnect with blog titles as of late. Brain is frazzled as originality is starting to fall by the wayside.

Anywho.

Some time ago (12 days to be exact), good old (well, not too old, considering I was just graduating high school when she was being born) Mrs. Riot Kitty (I'm sure I'm gonna get slapped for that one), decided to bestow on me, a Kreativ Blogger award, for being a creative blogger.

Among the many, many, many, many, many, many, many things I have to do for this award, is tell seven original things about myself. Yah, right. Like I haven't emptied 99% of my brain in telling you wonderful people fantabulous things about myself. Well, I have to empty that remaining 1% of my brain to tell you wonderful people more fantabuously original things about myself.

Ouchies. I just think I pulled a muscle with that paragraph.

Anywho (yah, redundant), here are seven original things that I hope that I haven't told you before in the previous 401 posts.

1} Mrs. R.K. has graciously stated that she absolutely hates how the English language gets butchered in the blog land, real world land, la-la land, and every land in between. Well.....I enjoy peppering both my blog world and my real world with pop culture words and phrases. F'r instance (like that F'r? I enjoy using that all the time), I like using the word Ouchies! to describe mistakes and boo-boos. I first heard the word used on an old Nickelodeon show called "Action League! Now!" One of the characters is called "The Flesh", who is super strong (muscular) and super naked. His pet phrase is, "Ouchies!" Another fave (like that fave? I use it all the time) phrase is Anywho, which I pulled from "M.A.S.H."

2} Due to the fact that I spent about three years being stalked, harassed, used, abused and having survived numerous attempts to turn me into St. John the Baptist while doing the chat room thing, I have developed a uncanny sense of awareness that borders on paranoia when it comes to people in the cyber world. Unfortunately, I have severed quite a few friendships in the past couple of years, due to the fact that I've been able to read people for what they really are in the chat rooms, and not for what they portray themselves to be. Note: this only applies to chat rooms, and not to the blog world, where people are pretty much who they portray themselves to be. In other words, honest and full of integrity.

3} I have owned about as many cars in my lifetime as some people change underwear in a two week time frame. Some examples: I have owned a Ford Pinto, a Chevy Malibu station wagon, a Toyota Celica stick shift, a Reliant, a Camaro, a Gran Torino, a Hyundai, a Ford Ranger, a Monarch, an Aries, and a Volkswagon Jetta (that one had no exterior door handles by the time I got done with it).

4} While I can't swear in seven different languages like Mrs. R.K., I can speak and understand ten different versions of English: General Government English (aka Alphabet Soup), Specific Governmental Agency English, Correctional Facility English, Contractual English (union contracts), Bastardized Teenager English (example: Let me have a pack of Mar Bah), Broken Convenience Store English (which actually makes sense), In Da Hood English, White Person Wannabe English, Business English (work), and Family English (outside of work).

5} I am a lone Republican (moderate) in a house/work location full of Democrats. 'Nuff said, and please, no pity, for Republicans will rise again and will ultimately force our one-termer to actually work with the Republicans. Sorry, just had to get that one dig in, because I've been remarkably well behaved when it comes to national politics.

6} Speaking of politics, I am a rare government worker: I'm rabidly anti-union, yet also a dues paying union member. Sorry gang, but I've seen too much union related stupidity since 2003 to really think that the public sector unions (or private sector for that matter) actually cares about their members. We have a saying in state government: No good state worker goes unpunished, and no bad worker ever gets fired.

7} Shoot, I can't think of number 7....oh wait, nope, that one is too depressing to mention....hmmm....ah, I got one. All of my close real world friends are female. No males. Even the majority of my friends from the Cyber World are female (save for the four guy bloggers I've met in the past two years). Come to think of it, about 85% of the blogs I read and follow, are written by females.

There you have it folks, seven original things about myself that I have not told anyone (that I could honestly recall) before on this blog. However, for those who are curious as to what my #7 could have been, I'll be more than happy to answer it in the comment section.

What's In A Number: Part Deaux

No, I'm not borrowing from the movie Hot Shots!...well, maybe I am

Back in mid-November, I wrote a post about numbers, or I should say, my favorite numbers. That particular post was in celebration of the fact that it was number 350 for this blog.

Today's post is number 400.

Today's post is also gonna be rambling tangent of some kind, but mostly involving once again, all sorts of numbers.

Like, for example, the number 450. 450 is the combined total of all published and unpublished posts for all three of my blogs: 400 for this one, 48 for FSG and 2 for my book blog. You would think that's a pretty hefty size number, right?

Well my good friends, let me tell you something: 450 is nothing. It's a puny number. Shoot, it doesn't even match up with some of the blogs out there that I follow, most notably Joey's Pad, who is sitting at somewhere over 1,000 (Can I get a 'Hell Yeah!' from everyone?) posts for his blog.

But let me tell you about another blog that has an even higher post count (and no, it's not the Tainted Archive, which is a pretty decent blog/e-zine). I found this particular blog some several months ago while I was on was on one of my quarterly blog surfing exercises. The main focus of the blog (as far as I can tell) has to do with, as he describes it on his header: A look at comics, books, movies, cartoons, television shows, music and more pop culture goodness from my vast and virtual personal library.

The name of this blog is called Booksteve's Library, and on February 12th, a mere ten days ago, he celebrated posting his...get this...3,000th post. I repeat, 3,000th post. My friends, this blogger has hands down (in my humble opinion) won the title of the most prolific blogger in the universe. This guy has been blogging since 2005 and it looks like since 2006 (his first full year) has averaged at least one post per day on his blog.

Another example is the number 1. 1 has been a harbinger of firsts for me in the past couple of years, all of which can be read here. This year, 1 represents the amount of times that I loaned out my blog to a non-family member and loaned it out to a family member. To the non-family member, it was due to the fact that I sent out an S.O.S. for help in writing my blog (which is still wanting. If you wish to write something that normally falls outside the scope of your blog, I have space available here for you to use and abuse). To the family member, it was due to the fact that she wrote a funky short story about Little Red Riding Hood.

Still yet another example would be the number 3. 3 is the total number of stalkers/harassers that I left behind when I vacated the chat rooms last month. Funny thing is, since I left the chat rooms, they really haven't bothered me here. Matter of fact, no one from the chat rooms has bothered me on the blogs since 2008. Someday, maybe they will, but I don't think so. I mean, where's the fun in leaving a derogatory comment when the only person who will read it, is me?

See boys and girls, comment moderation does have its privileges.

Our second to last example for today, will be about the number 2. The number 2 is important to me, as three birthdays occur in the month of February, which of course is represented by the number 2. 2 can also be heard in at least one children's song, which starts off: 2 and 2 is 4, 4 and 4 are 8, 8 and 8 are 16, 16 and 16 are 32.

Finally, our last example is 21. Why 21? Besides being found on the first page of the 1040 Federal income tax form, 21 is in the title of a short story that I'm writing called "Line 21", which I pulled directly from the 1040 income tax form. For those of you who don't know what Line 21 is, its where you would write "other income" on your tax form. I'll let you use your imagination on this one. The only hint that you'll have, is if you know what kind of stuff that I write to begin with, then you got a basic idea of the story.

Yup, I's just loves numbers.

Although, they don't make very good names for t.v. or cartoon characters (see "3" from STNG, "Zero" from Beetle Bailey and "5" from Peanuts).

Shooting Suburbia 3: November-December 2009

Greetings.

The third installment of Shooting Suburbia is now being presented for your viewing pleasure.

Today's photo album features pictures of the mountain taken during the tail end of Autumn and the beginning of Winter.

Enjoy.

Shooting Suburbia 3

All Points Bulletin

Where oh where, are you tonight?
Why did you leave me here all alone?
I searched the world over and thought I found true love.
You met another and raspberry you was gone.*

*Hee Haw

Listen to the mandolin rain.
Listen to the music on the lake.
Listen to my heart break every time she runs away.
Listen to the banjo wind.
A sad song drifting low.
Listen to the tears roll.
Down my face as she turns to go.*

*Mandolin Rain by Bruce Hornsby and the Range

There must be a thousand other guys.
There must be some other way to look good in your eyes.
Why am I up here, what do the see in me?
Must be one thousand other places to be.
Why me?*

*Why Me by Planet P

She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running,
Like a watercolour in the rain.
Don't bother asking for an explanation,
She'll just tell you that she came,
In the year of the cat.*

*Year of the Cat by Al Stewart

'Twas a late spring day in the mountain and I was sitting on a rocky outcrop over looking a field of wildflowers, drifting in and out of consciousness as the warm sun was carrying my spirit on a journey through time, when I gradually felt the sun disappear from my face. I opened my eyes, and standing about fifteen feet away in front of me, was a young lady. She was dressed most tastefully for the day, as she was wearing a soft blue sweater with white horizontal stripes that went down to her thighs; blue jeans the color of the afternoon sky with a silver chain belt looped around her waist; a pair of knee high Timberlands; and floppy Panama style hat. As she took off her hat, a cool breeze caught her hair from underneath and gently splayed it out. The late morning sun danced upon the jewels that were intertwined within and I became blinded by its brilliance, while at the same time, brought to my knees as a wave of melancholy bathed my spirit and dampened my soul. She approached, knelt down in front of me and picked up my chin. Gently touching my face, she leaned in and whispered, "Do not worry, for when the time comes, I will return to be that strong and steady guide that you will need on your long and difficult journey." Giving me one last gentle caress of my cheek, she stood up, turned around, and faded away as the cool breeze did, until I could feel the warm sun once again caressing my spirit. And although, I was alone again sitting on that rocky outcrop, I really wasn't, as I took comfort in the knowledge that soon, when the stars are properly aligned again, she will return to help guide me on my long and difficult journey.

My Grandfather's Record Collection

{1}


As I stated previously, my grandfather was a little bit strange when it came to buying/listening to music. Not only did he seem to concentrate on one particular label (RCA Victor, which I'm guessing was the label for country music back in the 60's/early 70's), but he was also concentrating on a reissue label that specialized in doing that particular label to begin with.

I would, on numerous occasions, find the original release of a particular artist and the reissue of that same release. You name any country artist from the late 60's through the early 70's (what I consider to be the golden age of commercial country) and chances are that I would have at least three originals and three reissues for that artist.
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Now, for some particular reason that I have only a slight working theme on (and if any of you have parents/grandparents still alive, you might have the same inkling as well), he bought about three to four dozen albums (all original releases) that were put out by MCA back in the late 80's, of which about 75% were in the rock genre, with the remaining 25% in country.
Some examples of artists that he'd acquired:

1} Rossington-Collins; 2} Rox (features the guitar work of Snuffy Walden); 3} Phil Seymour; 4} Blood, Sweat, & Tears;

5} Highway 101; 6} Hank Williams, Jr.; 7} Randy Travis; 8} Emmylou Harris;

9} The Catholic Girls; 10} The Bellamy Brothers; 11} Klique

Now, he never actually listened to theses, as when I acquired them, they were still in their original shrink wrap, but simply kept them in their original shipping container. The working theory I got is that in some kind of perverse way, he enjoyed spending money frivolously. There are other instances of this kind of odd OCD, but we'll save that for another time.

Back to the music collection.

One of the more interesting albums I found, basically confirmed that when he got older, he got stranger. Actually, I wouldn't use the word "stranger", but "enlightened".

Warning: What you are about to read next could be construed in some quarters as offensive/tasteless. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

As I was inventorying his collection, I would pull out each album to see who it was and briefly scan the jacket for liner notes and what not. When I pulled out this particular album, the first thing that popped out (literally) was the cover. The cover featured a hot looking blond, who was wearing only a cowboy hat and a pair of jeans with the top button undone and unzipped.

So after putting my eyes back into my head, I got to reading the liner notes of this fun-filled little album of what was supposed to X-rated material (probably was back in the 70's when this came out), and to tell you the truth, I wasn't impressed. Listening to it impressed me even less, because I've heard it done better elsewhere. Shoot, I even saw it done better on MTV.

This little album, entitled Country Porn, contains 10 tracks of what I would consider to be very high schoolish music. It wasn't particularly good, it didn't certainly didn't make me laugh and to tell you the honest truth, until I started writing this post, I had completely forgotten about it. Yes, it was just that memorable. Seriously, if this kind of stuff is your bag, or if you're just simply curious about this type of music, please check out John Valby. He does it better and has been doing it longer than any other performer that I know of. Warning: his website is graphic. Enter at your own risk.

Thus ends part 2 of My Grandfather's Record Collection. Tune in next time for who knows what I'll talk about as it pertains to my grandfather's record collection. I tell you one thing, I've been remembering some nifty stuff as these posts were being created, and guess what gang, you get to come along for the ride.

BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling!

Sorry, I got a case of sillies today. Answer me this, if you can tell me from what magazine my title came from, I will feature a link to your blog or website on the upper part of my front page for the rest of the month.

Anywho.....today's post will be an update on what I've been doing with my time spent away from Facebook and the blogs. It will also be the first in a series of periodic posts about my second novel, with excerpts featured at FSG.

For the past several months, I've been working on my latest novel, tentatively titled A Lascivious Limbo. Originally based on a badly written short story entitled Golden Texas Tea, which was intended to be a sequel to my badly written first self-pubbed novel "Shades of Love" {which someday I intend to re-write and turn it into a good pre-quel}, it has morphed and grown into a rather smooth dual plotted novel that is currently sitting at 108 pages/43K words.

What I did to make what I feel is a story more on par with my second self pubbed chapbook Betrayed! {better writing, better pacing, and better plotting}, was to actually read other books in the genre I'm attempting to write in and pick up valuable writing tips from those and the other writing related blogs/e-zines that I follow.

About the only thing I kept from the original story was the basic plot {which if you read the original story, then you knew it was incredibly hard to find}, which was a ghost story of sorts. Beyond that, the original story became a 24 page outline as I gutted the entire thing from beginning to end.

Instead of using the crappy beginning that started the original story {click here, here and here}, I started with lead female character already dead and being picked up by a bus sent by Limbo to collect the recently departed. If you remember the Albert Brooks movie "Defending Your Life", then you got the basic premise of my novel, only done with a slight twist.

Instead of the character being like Albert Brooks, where he's defending his poor choices and lack of risk taking, the character is reliving the last four days of her life and narrating those last four days to make a DVD, in order to see whether or not she moves on to the next phase of her journey, called Rebirth.

I also made Limbo a privately held corporation that acts as a conduit to the other parts of the afterlife: Rebirth, Heaven, Purgatory and Hell.

I wrote the book in a way that was similar to Betrayed!, in other words, each chapter contained both plots clearly defined and clearly written, thus easier to follow. Within each chapter, there are two plot headings. The first is the actual day on earth, with second being the actual day in Limbo {ex: May 24th-part 1; and Limbo Day 1-part 1}.

This week's post at FSG features the entire prologue to the novel. Please give serious consideration to leaving a thoughtful critique of it (and to future ones as well), as I will listen to and possibly incorporate any and all reasonable suggestions made. I really do value your opinion of my writing.

Prologue to "A Lascivious Limbo"

Give Me The Beat Boys

I have a rather mundane job that I perform for my bi-weekly bread: I do payroll.

I have, over the past couple of years, waxed poetically, waxed philosophically, waxed angrily, and waxed incredulously, over the various aspects of my job.

Today, I will wax musically over my current job.

As I've mentioned previously, I spend an inordinate amount of time not being busy, simply because I have been able to get all of my required work done when it was supposed to be done. However, this isn't about that 50% of my bi-weekly time. This is about the other 50% of my bi-weekly time in which I am consistently busy, which are the two days leading up to, the day of, and at least two days after pay day.

To help me keep my mind focused on what I'm doing at a given time (processing paychecks, entering and auditing timesheets, etc.), I listen to a lot of music. I'll even listen to music that I'm normally not a major fan of, but because it has something resembling a good beat, it becomes my white noise (ex: urban & soul).

Not only do I listen to all types of music, be it stuff I like or dislike, but I also listen to specific shows that play these certain types of music. Because I enjoy the variety that is the spice of life, I don't listen to commercial radio for this specific shows, but instead, listen to college radio.

I would say that the bulk of what I listen to (75%) when I'm doing payroll are the various offshoots of rock, with the remainder covering genres like jazz, soul, true r&b, urban and the various country sub-sects.

About the only genre I can't listen to is metal and its various sub-sects. It's not because I don't like it (because I do), but more because of not being able to get a particular station on my radio (incredibly weak signal, as the station has a radius of about two miles, maybe).

So my radio helps me get through an otherwise increasingly painful day (due to the various medical problems I got) that would be much longer than if I didn't listen to music. Specifically, two particular radio stations help fulfill the need: WRTC & WWUH.

These two radio stations: WRTC 89.3 & WWUH 91.3 have specific programming that I make it a point of listening to on a weekly basis. Of WRTC (Radio Trinity College) and WWUH (University of Hartford), WWUH is the more reliable of the two. By reliable, I mean that the volunteer staff will actually show up for their shift, and not temporarily end its broadcasting day like WRTC does from time to time. However, WRTC has the more eclectic day time programming than WWUH has.

Please note that all of these show times are Eastern Standard Time/Eastern Daylight Time. As of today (2/8), we're Eastern Daylight Time.

The following is a list of shows that I enjoy listening to on both stations. The one thing that both stations are know for, is their jazz programming. WRTC has jazz M-F from 6a-9a and from 3p-6p, whereas WWUH has theirs M-F from 9a-12 noon. I normally don't listen to jazz, only because I find it a bit too mellow for my tastes, at least for what they play out here.

1} The Marti Party: Mike Marti plays a fantastic collection of 50's & early 60's rock & roll, doo wop, r&b, and rockabilly from 1p-4p Mondays on WWUH. Not only does he play the well known stuff, but he often digs deeper into the lesser known regional stuff. Also, he has from time to time, done artist spotlights on his show.. And on the rare occasions that a well known performer has passed away, he'll devote an entire show to the artist (most recently, a three hour show devoted to Bo Diddley).

2} The Boris Rock Show: He plays a great eclectic mix of rock, both domestic and import. Normally opens his show with some funky instrumentals, which can be heard Wednesdays from 9/10a-12 noon on WRTC.

3} The Pine Grove Blues: River City Slim (has his own cajun/zydeco band called River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs) plays an extended mix of cajun, zydeco, swamp pop, and blues. His show is on from 6a-9a Thursdays on WWUH. Always has a spotlight on a a legend of American roots music around 7:30a.

4} In the Weeds: Dwight Thurston plays the best of American roots music, r&b, ska and reggae (mostly old school reggae with some modern stuff thrown in). His show has a particular emphasis on Bob Dylan. Fridays 1p-4p on WWUH.

5} Friday Morning Rock: Roger Catlin, who is a music critic for the Hartford Courant, has a nifty morning rock show from 9ish to 12 noon on WRTC, with a special emphasis on Elvis.

Although there are other shows that I will listen to depending on my mood (specifically, Saturdays from 9a-1p Bluegreass and 1p-4p Doo Wop), there are the five that I try to make a concentrated effort in listening to M-F. These particular shows help make my day go just that much smoother, and more often than not, put me into a better frame of mind to deal with the people who are the tail that wags the dog.

Settling

I decided to do something a little different for today's post.

Like, I didn't write it.

About a couple weeks ago, I put out an SOS for my blog. This was due to the fact that I had absolutely nothing on tap for myblog, beyond the post that was scheduled for January 29th. The well had literally run dry for me. So unlike the previous SOS's, in which I asked for topic ideas, this time I made the offer of letting people write whatever they want and I would post it on my blog for everyone to see. I would give them their own byline and they were free to talk about whatever they wanted, so long as they kept it under two pages. And, as an added bonus, I gave them the option of responding to the comments, which would come in handy if they were talking about something that I honestly didn't know anything about.

So far, only one person has taken me up on the offer. A friend of mine, who for the sake of this post goes by the name of "Lady Dee", wrote this particular post about relationships. Before we continue to the actual post, I must state for the record that I am the transcriptionist and furthermore...

My name is G, and I wholeheartedly approve of this post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How often do we make the mistake of settling into a relationship? A relationship that we know may be doomed from the start, but because of some idiotic fear of being alone, we choose to stay in or pursue a 'settled' relationship.

Is this yearning for a relationship so great that we inevitably make the choice that leads us into sadness, dissatisfaction and the ultimate broken heart. Or better yet, leads us in a direction to not trusting the next individual. Are we that desperate?

Exactly what is settling? Settling to me is when you enter into a relationship with a less than desirable mate because you don't want to be single. You may not even know you are settling and by settling you are, and have chosen to shut off your other options of finding your "true love".

How would settling affect the other person in the relationship? Is it fair to them? Is it fair to you? Do you wish to spend your time in a relationship on a road to nowhere that will bring you limited satisfaction?

What would be some other reasons other than the fear of loneliness that would prompt you to settle? Could it be you are being fulfilled sexually? Could it be monetary? For whatever reason, one must not deny themselves.

We all set reasonable expectations for our mates. Look into your heart and you will know what type of person will fulfill your soul and your needs and your wants. Remain single until you can find the person or that person finds you that will provide you with that true loving relationship. Don't lower your standards.

Have any of you ever settled? When and how did you realize you were settling? How did you make it through? What would you have changed if you could, other than the obvious of not entering into the relationship?

It is okay to be lonely. During the time of loneliness, get to know yourself and appreciate yourself. Only you truly know what satisfies your soul and makes you happy.

Lasered!

Once again, modern medicine delivers a brief interruption to this week's festivities.

By the time this post is published, I will be at the eye doctor's having laser surgery performed on my eye (hence the title of the post). Nothing serious, as I'm only having some touch up work done behind the eye, so that the doctor can better track the potential eye diseases that are commonly associated with being a diabetic.

Because I'm gonna be so incredibly hyper-sensitive to light, I will not be able to do anything computer related for the rest of the day. Thus, for the time being, any comments that you'll make on this post, the previous post or on the connecting post at FSG, will be hanging out on the clothesline, taking in the great New England winter weather.

Hopefully on Friday, I should be back to my semi-normal adorable self.

Until then, wish me luck and here's to hoping that your Thursday is the absolute best day of the week for you.

Cheers!

Crossing That River Of Blue Funkiness

Things that have helped me cross that river of blue funkiness.

1} A fantastic orange-yellow sunset cresting over the trees/mountain/town/city while driving home from work. There is something very magical about a beautiful sunset that touches you...right...there.

2} This cute post from my good blogger friend Jannie.

3} This funny post from my good blogger friend Joe.

4} A close friend of mine adding a new member (teenager) to her ever expanding family. May she always be blessed with a heart of gold and always has that little child in her pop out every once in a while to show the world that life indeed can be fun and carefree.

5} Writing a short story with a theme (mild cannibalism) that I wouldn't even had thought possible six months ago. Yes, sometimes putting aside one's current writing project to try something completely off the wall, can help jumpstart the creative juices again. Many thanks to Charles for the genre idea.

6} My Winnie-the-Pooh calendar, which uses the classic Pooh drawings and scenes from all the books. January's scene was where Pooh gets stuck entering Rabbit's home.

7} Two drawings of colorful flowers that my daughter made for me.

8} Realizing that I can bring a smile to a co-worker's face, simply by uttering a malapropism and having it remembered weeks/months later.

9} Realizing that I still have the gift of wittiness, when I can make a young lady smile and blush at the same time.

10} My stuffed animals that reside in my cube: Roger Rabbit, Taz, a teddy, an Easter bunny and a cuddly dog.