Category Archives: humor

Does This Blog Count as a Journal?

I was too tired to do my Tired Tuesday post on Tuesday.  For one reason, I went running.  I also did a load of laundry (one of my few instances of multi-tasking: I put in the laundry and run while it washes) and the dishes (I know some of you are judging me that the dishes were not washed as soon as they were dirty, but I am reconciled to that), and I worked a very little bit on the murder mystery I am a little sorry I committed myself to do.  And I made a few journal entries.

I have been keeping multiple journals lately.  Regular readers may recall the TV Journal, which I believe I wrote a blog post about (I wonder if I will be able to find it and share the link).  This has come to encompass more than just television viewing, so I guess I could drop the “TV,” call it a “Journal” and use my other notebooks for something else.

However, I also have a Running Journal.  This was a good idea, because it is helpful to look back and see where I am at fitness-wise, especially when I am training for, say, the Boilermaker 15K (preview of upcoming attractions).  It would be cumbersome to keep track of these things if I put them in the TV Journal with everything else.  Full disclosure:  I had one a while ago that I cannot find and finally broke down and started a new one in a fresh notebook recently.

On other occasions, I have tried to keep journals of my headaches or my eating habits, but I have never stuck with either of these tools long enough for them to become useful.  I fear that is the fate of my latest attempt at a journal: a Cleaning Journal.

Regular readers as well as my family and friends may be aware that my house is a hideous mess.  I am embarrassed to have anybody over and fear I will soon qualify for one of those TV shows like Hoarders (although that would make an interesting entry in the TV Journal).   I have been trying to embrace the Little Bit At A Time method, with only sporadic success and much backsliding. One Sunday I thought, “I’ll keep a journal!  I will write down what I do as I do it, what I find successful, how I feel, how I progress…”  I got all enthusiastic about it and even spent a good half hour actually cleaning.  This was pretty huge, quite frankly, because I almost never get anything done on a Sunday (it’s kind of a thing with me).

Nobody was less surprised than me when the Cleaning Journal did not turn out to be an ongoing source of inspiration.

However, one must persevere.  One bright side: I see I am over 400 words, a rather large word count for me.  Not bad for a late Tired Tuesday post, I think.

 

Writing About Not Writing Is Still Writing

Oh dear, it seems I have the dreaded Type It In Backspace It Out Disease.  This is much worse than when I write it down and cross it out, because in that case I can usually read what I crossed out later and say, “Oh, that isn’t so bad.”  Unless I get really disgusted with it and obliterate it or tear it up.  That has happened.

Phew!  I just got down a whole paragraph and haven’t deleted it.  Yet.  No promises, of course.  I could save it as a draft, but then when I try to go back to it, WordPress insists I started in Block Editor and something terrible may happen if I continue with Classic Editor.  I did not, WordPress!  I haven’t used Block Editor since I figured out how to go back to Classic Editor.

But I digress.

I guess this is going to be a Middle-aged Musings Monday Post.  I haven’t done one of those in a while.  Or maybe this is more of a Monday Mental Meanderings Post.  You decide.

Or pecked in one letter at a time with the stylus.

I personally am not hung up on my writing being perfect.   I just think it should be good.  Or at least not embarrassing.  I think I need to get over that and Just Write.  I can always revise the embarrassing parts later.  Or use them as blog posts (see what I did there?).

 

I Swoon Over Columbo

I have been obsessively watching episodes of Columbo on DVD.  I may have mentioned that my parents gave me a boxed set of the entire series for Christmas.   The episode I am watching right now features George Wendt.  Imagine Norm from Cheers as a murderer!  That did not need a Spoiler Alert; that was the gimmick on Columbo:  you saw the murder and the suspense came in how Columbo was going to prove it.

He did not want to answer “One more thing.”

I started another episode just now but may go to bed before it is over.  It may be clear by now that I do not have a whole lot to say.  I guess that is normal for a Wrist to Forehead Sunday Post.

What a bad Monday I would have if I did that!

Having Monday tomorrow isn’t really so bad.  My job is not heinous.  Naturally I would prefer to be independently wealthy and not have to work, but as is often observed, one cannot have everything.

One of the all time greatest fictional detectives.

Full disclosure:  I had a Mohawk Valley Adventure today.  I hope to write about it in the near future.  In the meantime, I hope this will do for today’s post.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

Bonita was also having a Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

 

Saturday? Sunday? Just Another Blog Post

It is a well known fact that I have never, at any point in my life, for one minute, ever had my act together.  It seems unlikely that I will achieve such a status at this late stage, even if I were to make the attempt.  Full disclosure:  I tend not to try.  At worst,  I survey the damage and make embarrassing weepy noises.  At best, I just drive on.  I am hoping for a drive on day today.

I am lounged on my couch, pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus on my Tablet, trying to remember why I did not make my Saturday blog post on Saturday.  I am further wondering if I can count this post for both Saturday and Sunday.  Would that be cheating?  I do not approve of cheating, even if it is on my own rules for me.  Still, one resorts to  these measures on occasion.

It has not been a bad weekend so far.  I went for good runs both yesterday and today, going further than last weekend and even including a few hills.  I petted a couple dogs today.

The sign is looking more faded now, and the trees in the background have no leaves.

I ran by this DO NOT ENTER sign yesterday.  Regular readers know I love to enter when it says not to.

That car wasn’t there today.

I ran by the post office today.  I walked there yesterday to mail my post cards and a letter.

I keep hoping for some of those endorphins to kick in.  One reason I try to be vigilant about running and walking is for the mental health benefits.  However, I don’t suppose anything will be a miracle cure.  Again I ask, why can’t I have a miracle cure?

And again I answer myself, never mind why, you can’t and that’s that.  However, it seems I can make a blog post.  It may be a late, foolish blog post, but what can you expect from someone who emphatically does not have her act together?

 

I Try to Make a Lame Post Friday Post

This is the point on a Friday evening when I usually say to hell with it, I’ll make another late Lame Post Friday post.  That may yet happen today.  However, I am sitting on my couch, episode of Columbo on the television, glass of wine nearby, Tablet in hand, trying.

That is another trick I try on myself.  I have talked about the trick of doing Just One Thing.  For example, just wash one dish, put away one thing, write one journal entry.  A trick I may not have mentioned is that of Just Try.  For example, when I say, I can’t wash the dishes! I can’t go running! I can’t write anything!  I say to myself, Just Try.

Sometimes it doesn’t work.  Of course sometimes it does.  I mean, when it comes to the dishes, I can usually manage to get them organized, fill the dishpan with hot, soapy water, wash one dish… and it goes on from there.  Full disclosure:  often I get the dishes washed but do not scrub the sink afterwards.  And I quite frankly never dry them. I say why waste effort on what patience will accomplish.

However,  in most cases, washing dishes and writing are two disparate activities with very little in common. Once you wash a dish, it seems a very easy action to wash another.  Just because you write one word or even sentence is no guarantee that more words will be forthcoming.

On the other hand, I have gotten over 200 words with this nonsense.  I say Happy Lame Post Friday.

 

Love’s Memories Not Lost

I want to have a Theatre Throwback Thursday Post and I do not care if I have thrown back to these memories many times before.  I saw some pictures yesterday when I was looking through the pictures in my Tablet, and I enjoyed them very much, if briefly.  I would like to enjoy a few of them some more today, and I hope my reader’s will enjoy them too.

Nice lunge, Tucker!

This is a rehearsal shot from Love’s Labour’s Lost, which was presented by LiFT,  Little Falls Theatre Company last summer.  I hope LiFT strikes again this summer (wouldn’t that make a great blog post title, “LiFT Strikes Again”?) (of course “strike” also means to take down a set, and we didn’t exactly have a set).

She’s not having any of it.

These were two of my favorite characters in the show.  Then again, I loved all the characters.

A mysterious lover!

This is one of my all time favorite pictures.  I think we should carry fans as accessories more often.

 

A most amusing pair.

I wanted to include a picture with costumes.  Well, maybe more than one.

 

Several cast members.

 

And here’s me.

I do love being in plays.

 

There Are No Words

I was reading a few other blogs hoping to get some inspiration for today’s post, and there it was: Wordless Wednesday.  If only I had a good, evocative picture to share.  Damn!

He was so handsome!

After looking through a LOT of pictures on my Tablet, I came across several of my dearly missed husband, Steven.  This one caught my eye, because I am wearing that same shirt tonight. I spilled a little sauce on it when I was eating supper.  I’d better remember to rub in a little soap when I take it off later.

Anyways, the picture was taken at Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort,  NY, when we used to go almost every Wednesday for music and food.  That adds a little symmetry to the post, I think.

Full disclosure:  I did not want to make a cheerful, chatty post today.  I was rather inclined to give a grief update.  It occurred to me today that my sadness is just a chronic condition I have to get used to, like a bad back or knees (both of which I have, but they are not constant, so I count my blessings).  This is actually a helpful thought: Just something I have to get used to.  I can get used to something.

So I am over 200 words on this Wordless Wednesday.  I can never get these things right.

 

No Tricks Here!

I thought I could make a Running Commentary Post, because I went for a run after work.  Then as I was running, I thought, “This isn’t going to make a very good blog post.”  It did not seem to be making a very good run.  However, one must get through the crap runs on the way to the good ones.

In some ways it was not a bad run at all.  Most of the sidewalks were bare.  The sun was shining.  It was warm enough to run in shorts and short sleeves. In short, what was I complaining about?

Not exactly what it looked like today.

I wanted to put a picture of something I ran by.  I took this one of Meyers Park in Herkimer, NY earlier this year.  There is a little more snow now, although it is melting.  I am still trying to figure out what I was complaining about.  Oh, I remember now.  I was disappointed that my run was not more memorable.

Additionally, I was a little discouraged by my huffing and puffing.  I ran Saturday and Sunday, and walked on Monday.  I have been walking and/or running most days since the beginning of the year.  Shouldn’t I be getting better at it?  When I was in the army, I loved running, because I magically got better at it.  All I had to do was do it.  Maybe there is some trick to it now that I am older.  Still, I was in my 30’s when I joined the army.  That’s pretty old in army years.

There may be a trick to making a better blog post, too.  Once again, I don’t know it. But I shall persevere.  Once again I thank you for tuning in.

 

My Rules on Monstrous Monday

I have often said that writing begets writing, and I have been writing several things this evening, yet here I sit, looking at a blank space on my “Add New Post” screen.  Maybe I was writing the wrong things.  I wrote a couple journal entries and finished a letter to a friend.  By my rule of Any Writing Counts, that should help.  Then again, why do I think that my rule made up by me has to always be true?

“Why oh whyyyyy can’t I make a blog post?”

I throw in a picture of a monster, because it is Monday.  Regular readers know how I love my Monstrous Monday Posts.

Is this the formula for a decent blog post?

If I continue to add pictures of monsters, I’m sure I can get to 200 words.  I realize making blog posts of at least 200 words is just another one of My Rules For Me.  What is it with me and rules?

Are they pondering the rules of magic?

I wonder if I think something magic is going to happen if I follow these rules.  For example, when I started this blog, I decided I was going to make a post every day for one year.  I did pretty good for the first year, and not bad off and on for the subsequent years (it’s been almost 12).  I don’t know that anything magic happened.  I don’t make up the rules about what counts as magic.

 

Not Much Brain, But a Nice Memory

I want to make my Sunday blog post on Sunday.  Unfortunately my brain is blank.  This is not an unusual situation for me.

“Did somebody ask for a brain?”

This is The Brain from the Planet Arous. Full disclosure:  I do not remember much about the movie; I just like to use the picture when I am feeling particularly brain dead.

Look at her giving him the side-eye!

And here is The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.  Mine obviously would.

There’s a guy with a brain!

I am still watching episode after episode of Columbo on DVD. Some episodes I pay more attention to than others.  Right now one is playing that I do not mind missing parts of.  Oh, wait, the plot just thickened!

Years ago, when my mother and I used to watch Murder, She Wrote on Sunday nights, at every commercial break, Mom would turn to me and say, “The plot thickens!”  I may have shared that memory before, but it is a good one.  My husband Steve always liked to hear it.  Sometimes I would remark that the plot thickened when he and I watched Dateline.  I do like a thick plot!

So I can’t remember much about The Brain from the Planet Arous, but I remember nice evenings with my Mom.  I’m OK with that.  Happy Sunday, everyone.