Oops, I hadn't thought about posting on weekends

This NaBloPoMo is *definitely* becoming my favorite form of procrastination! I *really* need to get my next Life Afloat up, and instead I'm playing here. Since I've been using the writing prompts during the week, I think I'll use weekends to catch you up on what my ordinary life is being like, these days - if I can think of things that aren't duplicating stuff I've written for L.A.

It's really feeling autumnal - the trees are shades of rust and subtle gold, the days are bright and cool and dry and the nights are snuggly. We spent the morning at a "winterize your boat" seminar, and it really brought home to me - the season is winding down.

The other way we can tell autumn is coming on - we're craving soup. That's okay, we're cooking at home again, something we didn't do all summer, and enjoying just working together, getting into each others' rhythm. We're nostalgic for the old days when we lived in Colorado and the menus were almost always some kind of homemade bean soup/stew, fresh bread, and dark beer. I'm not sure if I miss those days, so much as I miss who I was then - younger of course, and we spent every weekend exploring the mountains, hiking or backpacking or canoeing. It was a golden time.

What Makes You Notice Someone?

What I notice is, someone who pays not attention to whether others are paying attention to him/her - either way. I'm not attracted to someone who is the center of attention (or worse, who DEMANDS to be the center of attention, dominating the room.) I'm equally not attracted to someone who shrinks from notice, the ultimate wallflower. I'm attracted to those who "dance like no one is watching," totally at ease with themselves. That's who I want to be when I grow up.

NaBloPoMo Day 4 - Choosing between some dualities

Would you rather be wealthy and ugly, wise and sickly, or beautiful and stupid?

This question has me just begging to say, "I hate either/or choices, and I remember my mother's advice about moderation in all things." What does wise and sickly mean, exactly? As brilliant as Stephen Hawking ... and confined to a wheelchair almost totally paralyzed? That would be the ultimate in extremes of both wise and sickly - no thanx! Or does it mean, smarter than average, say in the top 10%, with back problems that preclude running a marathon but not going for a walk after dinner? Oh, wait, that just described me, and quite happy with my life overall.

What about wealthy and ugly, and again I'm wondering, how wealthy, and how ugly? A grotesque billionaire? And then spend a tiny portion of that fortune on plastic surgery to look, if not gorgeous, at least not frightening? That might be okay. What about comfortably middle-class and merely plain-looking? That would be okay too. Oops, wait, never mind, I think I'm there, too.

The option of being beautiful and stupid? Well, to use a cliche in its perfect place - that's a no-brainer! I'm really glad to live at a time in history when women can succeed based on something other than cuteness, so on this duality, I'll most emphatically pass. :-)

Politics

R made a comment about campaign mailers, that she used 'negative advertising' to break a tie between two candidates. I had that in mind yesterday.

For the last few years, our state has faced furloughs of public employees. The mailer we got said that most state politicians also accepted furloughs ... but not "Candidate X," who was only interested in himself, so don't vote for "Candidate X." The mailer was paid for by "Candidate Y's" party. So I emailed "Candidate X's" campaign to ask for the true story behind this. Here is part of the email we got back from them:

"It is good of you to ask. They [Candidate Y' party] could have sent this out before now so we could respond. They obviously did not want us to have time to.

The legislators were asked voluntarily to either give back a few days in pay to the government to help people in need, or, they could pay it directly to a charity. The amount was to be equal to the number of days state workers were furloughed. There was never any mention which one was better to do. Candidate X gave directly to those in need for years 1 and 3. He took the cut in pay the second year. Seeing and giving to people in need seemed more direct because the government is a more indirect route and less gets to the needy. If Candidate X is guilty of anything it is that he did not know he was being set up....Give him a call on his cell 444-444-4444. He'll speak with you any time."

That makes the campaign flyer pretty negative, I think, by any standard. Implying that the Candidate X kept the money, when in fact he gave it, every year. In fact, I probably would have given it to charity as well rather than give it back to the government. Big points in his favor. Then I looked more closely at the email. Come again? This isn't the office number, they gave me the candidate's personal cell phone number if I had questions? Now THAT's responsive! And BTW, yes we voted for him, and yes he won his race.

The book: Time

NaBloPoMo Day 3: "Describe the plot of the next book you want to read, even if the book doesn't exist yet."

Lee has the power to freeze time. S/he (I haven't decided yet if the protagonist is male or female, thus the androgynous name) simply strolls up the the bad guy and plucks the bullet out of mid-air, or snatches the child out of the way of the oncoming car, whatever. I also don't know whether Lee is a superhero or alien being come to Earth with amazing advanced technology, whatever. AN-y-way...Lee has spent 50 years fighting chaos, protecting the innocent, and righting wrongs, but now, the all those adventures are taking their toll. His/her body is showing the effects of the abuse and age, s/he is weaker and slower than at his/her prime. Although Lee could stop time in the service of others, s/he can't stop the ravages of time on his/her own self, and can only hope to have gained wisdom enough to compensate for the diminishment of physical strength and superpowers...just in time to face the greatest threat of his/her career. S/he assembles a band to help, including a sentient bird and another superhero/alien whose power/technology is being able to shrink himself to less than an inch tall, and back to his normal 7 foot height, at will. The book is filled with philosophical insights on the nature of power and time and change, and ends happily.

NaBloPoMo - NAtional BLOg POsting MOnth

RoseAnn pointed me at this blog posting challenge, to write something every day for a month. I'm not sure if its inspiring or just another way of procrastinating, as I'm behind on Life Afloat because I'm struggling with a story. But anyway, I thought I'd give this a try.

The prompt for November 1 was a freebie for me: "How would your life change if you didn't have rent or a mortgage to pay, i.e., if your housing was free?" Umm, been there, done that, my housing *is* free, and the story of that is "Life Afloat."

Today's prompt is "Tell us the story of a piece of jewelry you own. Where did it come from, and what does it mean to you?" Where do I start, every piece of jewelry I have comes with a story, and I've got a lot of jewelry. One piece, though, stands out. It's a small diamond pendant in a triangular shape. (photo coming) that has been through 3 incarnations.

My father's mother had a pair of diamond stud earrings, the first incarnation. She also had two sons. When each got engaged, she gave him one earring to turn into a ring for his fiancee, the second incarnation. Then at some point early in my parents' marriage, they replaced the ring with an eternity band of diamonds, and my mother had the engagement ring rearranged into this unique diamond pendant. I have pictures of me as a toddler and that necklace around my mother's neck. After she died, the necklace passed to me and I wore it day and night for several years, in memory not just of her, but of the continuity of women - changing, rearranging, but somehow, always the same.

Google, Part II

So then, of course, I had to google Dan. He's the president of a college in North Carolina; a civil engineer in southern California; a deer-hunter in Arizona; and, sadly, recently deceased in Illinois. The wonders of technology.