So Much For Intentions

You, dear reader, may recall my lofty aspiration to write at least twice a week in this here corner of cyberspace.

Obviously, that did not happen. I kept waiting for inspiration to strike me like the proverbial lightning bolt. Instead, I found myself flitting between projects, home improvements that had been scheduled to occur MONTHS AGO only to FINALLY be finished at the start of the so-called Polar Vortex of Doom. But thankfully, there was very little damage after the storm, and no loss of power. Yay me!!

Now we are beginning the second month of the year and…. guess what? Yup, limited writing, yet again. I shall be traveling this week and will be away for the majority of the month. But I shall attempt to squeeze one blog entry when I return. In the meantime, I shall continue to write this entry as if my tens of readers depended on it!!

Today is Groundhog Day, also known as Candlemas to us Catholics, but mostly known for the day when we as a nation turn to a fluffy rodent to predict the length of the current season. This rodent wants nothing but the comfort of his burrow, but we humans absolutely insist on dragging him out of his warm home and parade him out in the uncomfortable environs of cold weather and curious people. And for what? To either scream in jubilation that he did not see his shadow, or to boo at the poor soul because he did, thus predicting six more weeks of winter. His prediction rate is worse than a coin flip, but whatever. Someone has to be blamed, and Phil gets the crosshairs. Meanwhile his poor wife is dealing with the kids, wondering the mood her husband will be exhibiting upon his return. If any rodent deserved a beer, it is Punxsutawney Phil.

Meanwhile, some of us celebrate Candlemas, the official end to the Christmas season. It marks the halfway point between winter and spring equinoxes. But more importantly than the groundhog, it celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ at the Temple. The observed holiday of Groundhog Day is mostly secular, having its roots in German tradition. So blame them for the tradition. As for me, I am not happy about “six more weeks of winter,” but that will only make me appreciate the coming spring even more.

At least, after Lent. If you know, you know!! 😀

Finding Our Inner Energizer Bunny

We all have those days.

You just do NOT want to get out of bed. You have to, you have responsibilities like jobs, chores, social obligations. But you just don’t want to deal with the world. I am here to tell you that this is perfectly normal.

I recall one morning I woke up, and the thought of getting up to turn on the coffeemaker made me want to cry. I just did NOT want to get out of bed. I asked myself what I had to get done that day, and the only thing I could think of was….. the good morning tweet. Everything else was back burner stuff. I did get up to make coffee, wash my face and brush my teeth, get a book, fetch the remote, grab an empty notebook, and get back in bed. I stayed there, reading or watching TV or writing. I sent the tweet (can’t disappoint my several dozen fans) and cleared notifications every so often. My phone was on mute, my laptop was off, and I was in my own world.

And it was glorious!!!

But Aggie, how can that be? We are social creatures and have stuff to do daily!! Yes, and that’s why you feel guilty for not doing something constantly. I recently heard the term “social battery” and I have to say, it resonates. The dirty secret that lies at the heart of it? We are all introverts to some degree. Yes, even the extroverts. We all need time to readjust our mental and physical state. I don’t mention the emotional state because reasons. But the other two? Yes, those have to be balanced for us to function in society.

It’s not difficult to do, but it can be difficult to take the step. It took me a long time to make my head understand that I could stay in bed all day if I wanted to do so. The best part? You don’t have to stay in bed all day!! Just an extra hour or two goes a long way towards recharging your battery and allowing you to channel the Energizer Bunny. The day after my recharge day, I sanded, cleaned, and stained a pair of end tables, power-washed the deck, did three loads of laundry, and swept and mopped the house. I was a freakin’ dynamo. And even after cooking dinner and doing KP, I took the dog for a walk. I admit, I didn’t have to deal with anyone, so my energy was focused on getting work done. It is different for everyone. But it is also needed by everyone.

So next time you get the urge to stay in bed and avoid life, make plans to do so, if only for an hour or so. Your inner bunny will thank you for it. 🙂

There Were Bees in the Cab!

That was my answer to a writing prompt posted on social media: write a story about *this* in six words or less. I know, should be “fewer”, but it wasn’t my prompt. I like the challenge of writing prompts. They force you to summarize and be concise.

That began my thought process over other prompts, not just those for writing. In Life, we are often given prompts. Some are short, very easy to manage: daily chores, work obligations, emails, etc. Some are not so easy: family ties, keeping up with old friends, letting go of parental habits. A friend is traveling and is having a tough time letting her adult progeny be in charge. She knows they are capable, but the apron strings are a bit tight. To her credit, this is helping her observe them as adults and it helps her feel a certain freedom, but it is difficult!! My prompts tend to be on the remote circle side. Sometimes I am reminded I haven’t reached out to old friends and extended family. The recent loss of a dear friend still burns with guilt. So I began to listen at my inner voice (the calm one, not the weird neurotic one). I recently called my aunt out of the blue, and was overjoyed at her pleasure. She will be receiving a tiara soon, too. Her daughter is planning a 60th birthday party, and I aim to attend. It will be 40 years since we saw each other, so it should be fun.

Life throws prompts at us daily, hourly even. Don’t ignore them or put them off. Just like Time, Life stops for no one. Remember that next time you find yourself prompted. 😉

How to Build Man

Yes, that’s a thing. It’s actually a WP blog post about Manchester United, that was suggested for reading in the Site Admin section. I did have to read that title twice. It was a bit….ambiguous, shall we say? Manchester was abbreviated to Man. United, so you can imagine how my brain chose to read it. It did provide a chuckle, but also made me pause and reflect how sometimes grammar can make some things sound waaaaaay different.

The comma is probably the most abused punctuation mark. But periods have their share when it comes to abbreviation of formal names. Honestly, I read the title as thus:

How to Build Man

United’s Grid Layout Homepage

I mean, what?? I understood it to be two posts, one was about cyborgs (maybe??), and the other was directing me to what I presumed to be the homepage of an airline. Once I clicked on the link, I realized it was about the team’s website. Listen, I am not the sharpest machete in the shed. I admit that. I can only remind y’all that English is technically my second language and sometimes it trips me up.

Anyway, I hope that serves to give a chuckle. I will be peppering my stories and journal with more commas, as if William Shatner were dictating. Better to have too many, than too few. 😉

Childish Aspirations

We all had them. The inevitable “I wanna be fill-in-the-blank when I grow up!” Some were funny, some realistic, and the majority outrageously and wondrously fantastical.

When I was five, I wanted to be a ballerina. But not just any ballerina. I wanted to be the first ballerina in space. Yes, your humble hostess wanted to be a ballerinaut. I had no idea how to achieve that. I lived in a remote area where there were no dance schools and no where near NASA. But I still had that dream. And that one wasn’t the weirdest, either. For a brief time, I wanted to raise exotic fish, which sounds pretty normal until you find out I lived in a mountainous area and the only exotic fish I knew was Flipper (yes, I know Flipper was a mammal, but he was a fish to a five-year-old). There was also the time I wanted to be a wood worker, like one of the neighbors. It was magical to watch him take a raw piece of lumber and make a baseball bat (could have been a billy club, for all I know. It was a rough neighborhood!). Oh, and I won’t bore you with the details of being a car recycler.

It’s funny, but looking back now, some of those wishes are not as impossible as they used to seem. Sure, I will never be a ballerinaut, but I know that even here in the hinterlands there is a market for exotic fish. As for reclycling cars (yes, I thought of doing stuff like that when I was 13), that is actually a thing now. And though it took me several decades and it’s not exactly wood working, I now do furniture restoration. Learning the different types of woods and how to restore them has been not just educational, but fun. Having those childish aspirations should be goals, not just dreams. I do believe it is your psyche trying to guide you towards maturity, giving you hints as to your hidden talents. So don’t ignore the little voice in your head reminding you of your aspirations. It’s your conscience trying to steer you towards your happiness. 😉

Aggie’s Mailbag

Well, not really mail. But sometimes friends and social media personalities ask me questions pertaining about this here blog. Blogging isn’t as big as it used to be. But it’s still a *thing* in certain circles. I had stopped writing for a while, years really. I’m coming back to blogging slowly and have made progress, in between the tree-chopping, estate-sales’ing, furniture-restoring life I now lead. So, without further ado, let me answer the most popular FAQs.

“Are you an aspiring writer?”

Oh, good gawd, no. I have been accused of being a writer before, I admit. I also admit to writing short stories, poems, prose, anything I fancy. But I write to get the story out of my head. I don’t publish them, I don’t share them with anyone. I fill notebooks with my screeds, then toss them into a storage bin. And yes, they are recycled. I have toyed with the idea of serializing some of the stories here weekly, but A) they are silly and B) ain’t nobody got time for that.

“Is there a point to your blog??”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! No.

“Why don’t you talk about politics?”

That is a very good question, and it deserves a very thorough answer. As we all know, politics is downstream of culture, and culture being my discipline, it can make it hard to avoid politics. So I don’t answer the question lightly.

Politics suck.

“Why did you stop writing daily?”

This is difficult to explain. I can say I got busy with Life, or there were too many distractions. I suppose it was a combination of those, along with experiencing some downturns that left me at a loss. Flinging a tweet or two, or posting a status at the book-of-faces was simpler and didn’t take much effort. And so, I let the blog hibernate.

But I’m now trying to make an effort to write at least twice a week. I am using this as an outlet, not just for the sake of writing, but to purge myself of feeling of loss, anger, sadness, whatever negativity I may harbor. It’s a good way to turn things into positives. Commenting on random things in everyday life tends to bring out the small blessings I seem to miss.

“Any chance you will post recipes?”

Maybe? I’m no Julia Child, but I do own several of her books.

Well, that’s enough FAQ stuff for today. Have a good one!! 😀

Tears of a Clown

Yes, I am referring to myself. I am a very, shall we say, emotional gal. I am what some would call empathetic. Some would call me weak and too fragile. All I know is that certain things tend to open the floodgates, be it emotions, old stories, a cupcake, or in this case, MUSIC.

Everyone has one song or composition that stirs their soul, notes that stir memories or that just hit that chord (see what I did there??) and open the closed well of feelings. For some people, the music is tied to a memory. I admit there are some songs that stir up my tears for that reason. But there are some that are so beautiful, so passionate, that they burst the dam for no reason other than their existence. So here are my top five compositions that stir my soul and make me a blubbering mess.

#5 “Diary”

Bread

This song tells the story of a young man who finds a diary and after reading it, thinks the young woman he loves returns it in kind, only to figure out that she loves someone else. His wish for her happiness outweighs the loss in his heart.

#4 “Three Wooden Crosses”

Randy Travis

The tale of a tragic accident, a Bible, and the road to forgiveness and redemption is fitting for anyone, regardless of belief.

#3 “Moldau”

Bedrich Smetana

One of my favorite classical pieces, this symphonic poem tells the tales of the mighty river Vltava, or the Moldau as it is known in Germany from where it forms from two springs, and how it flows through the valleys, pastures, gorges, until it reaches Prague. The serenity and joy captivates you, the tumultuous rhythm as the “waters” become rough seize around your mind, and the glorious triumph as the waters come to flow into the grand city bring a tear, or two.

#2 “Hurt”

Johnny Cash

I don’t think I can adequately express what this song means to me, or to most people. I daresay everyone can identify with its message of the need to feel pain, in order to feel alive.

#1 “Nessun Dorma”

Giacomo Puccini

Quite possibly the most famous tenor aria in opera, the song tells of the night which no one will sleep. The princess Turandot has commanded every servant to find out the name of her latest suitor and if they fail, they will all be put to death. The suitor, Calaf, sings triumphantly that he will win her courtship because it is impossible for anyone to know his true identity. The opera is one of the most controversial since Puccini was unable to finish it. Yet the aria’s notes of triumph overshadow that failure.

So, there you have my embarrassing admission. There are more, but these are the ones I turn to when I need a release from stress or pain, and leave a space for joy to take root. Paraphrasing Beethoven, music should put fire in a man’s heart, and tears in a woman’s eyes. I’m pretty sure he was right 😉

Candy is Dandy!

With the Lent Season arriving tomorrow, I am in a bit of a rush to consume my stash of sugary goodies. I am not a big junk food eater, but I do have my favorites. There are usually a few dozen chocolate chip cookies to be found in a jar, or some Twinkies in a bowl. But the most treasured are found in the covered compote that holds my beloved chocolates.

I was not a big fan of chocolate growing up, but as I grew older, I grew wiser for sure. Chocolate is a cure-all for me. Headache? Godiva truffles. Soreness? M&M’s. Cold? Lindt bar. Flu? Ghirardelli Squares. Chocolate releases endorphins, which give you positive emotions and reduce pain perception. It gives a feeling of comfort and well-being, and certain compounds in chocolate are similar to certain anti-depressant chemicals in our brains, which mimic the feeling of falling in love. It is truly the perfect food!!

As much as I love chocolate, I won’t eat any with almonds, cashews, and very few with peanuts (exceptions being Snickers). I’m sure that’s heretical to some of you. And no, I can’t eat any “spicy” chocolate, either. The flavor profile is incredible but it hurts, so no-go. But sea salt and dark chocolate?? SIGN ME UP!!

I never claimed to be perfect, just quirky.

Anyway, time is running out, and there is chocolate to consume. Feel free to comment on your favorite chocolate. It will give me something to look forward to savoring come Easter. 😉

Zen and the Art of Monotony

There is a certain satisfaction in the monotonous. Sounds a bit odd to say, but I do find it calming to do a monotonous task.

I used to volunteer to cut up ALL the Box Tops for the local schools. I’m talking THOUSANDS of Box Tops from dozens of teachers at three campuses. I would sit at the breakfast table and make two piles per teacher: those to trim correctly, and those that were unusable. Once that was done, I would put on Vivaldi and begin the task of trimming each itty bitty coupon. It only counted if you cut on the dotted lines!!! Many parents would tear the entire top flap of the cereal box or include the whole can label. Still, I was in the zone, my Zen was unshakeable. Once done with one pile, I would write the teacher’s name, room number, and school on a zip bag. And I would finish just in time to start dinner and deal with pandemonium.

Monotony can serve to clear the fog. I can sit and do a repetitive task and feel my mind clearing, the thought process sharpening. Of course, that can make me a bit dangerous. One time, I ended up rearranging the furniture in the den, twice in one day. That isn’t…. right. And of course, there was the time I decided it was a great idea to take a machete to the loquat tree. Admittedly, I’ve done that often, but not in the rain.

I am a big fan of monotony. Some people find comfort in the repetition. Others like it because they don’t have to deal with the unknown. But for me, it’s the focus. It helps me center myself as it helps me to relax. I was often called boring when I was young…er. I would like to think that it developed into serenity, something which used to be fleeting but now I see as eternal. Finding your Zen is important, not just mentally but overall. Luckily, the search isn’t difficult.

But trust me, you may not find it in Box Tops 😉

Hunkering Down

Winter has arrived.

Supreme BS. But inevitable.

This is the time of year when I hibernate from my usual projects. I avoid working outside as much as possible because frankly, I am allergic to cold (not really). But I was born in the tropics, and raised in very South Texas. So *cold* and I do NOT mix. But I do respect it. Over there.

Frosty woods across the lake

Waaaaay over there.

Anyway, with the dip in temps come the change in habits. Since I can’t really spend time working on furniture outside, I have to find stuff to keep busy indoors. That whole “idle hands” thing is, well, a thing. Apparently the 70s are calling because in addition to cross-stitching, I have gotten back into macrame. I always found it soothing to work knots into some fancy design, and one can always use a plant hanger, amirite?? Also, after dabbling in acrylics, I decided to start painting on canvases, not just rocks. I am not an aspiring artist by any stretch, and will most likely paint over my mistakes, or toss the canvases to the burn pile. And if those hobbies were not enough, I am also doing some finger knitting. I used to crochet, so this new technique should be fun. I hope the finished product is a success, but the point is to keep learning, keep broadening horizons. Keep busy and not go crazy.

I might be too late on the latter.

But until the shipment of yarn and jute arrives, I have books to keep me busy 😉