Tag Archives: blogging

Mid-Winter Wrist

Posted on January 18, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Is it the Mid-Winter Blahs, the Mid-Winter Blues, or just a common or garden Wrist to Forehead Sunday? I’m hoping it’s the third one, because tomorrow it will not be Sunday any more, but winter will last at least a couple of months more.

In other words, anybody who was hoping for a post of any substance from me today is doomed to disappointment.

I was ambitious enough earlier to drive to Chadwicks for church with some members of my family, notably my most adorable year-old great nephew.  He was quite interested in pulling my necklace.  I had taken the precaution of putting on a long strand of fairly tough beads in case of just such an emergency.

It was a fine drive over Higby Road to Graffenburg (oh dear, I’m not sure if it’s Graffenburg or Graffenberg; another reason to make the wrist-to-forehead pose).  Bare roads, not too windy.  We went to Salvatore’s in Washington Mills for breakfast after church, so my drive home was all Higby.  Nice views.  One day perhaps I’ll have a camera and can share some of the sights I see.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that before church I did the dishes, often the extent of my Sunday ambition (if in fact my Sunday ambition extends that far; it doesn’t always).  I did not dry and put them away, of course.  Waste energy drying dishes?  That’s crazy talk!  Anyways, by that time I had to get ready for church.

And now I’m over 200 words.  Hmmm…. This seems to me more like a Scattered Sunday than Wrist to Forehead. No matter, in the blogiverse (you know, like universe.  I think I’ve gotten too big for the blogosphere), 200 words is 200 words.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

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76% Remaining

Posted on January 15, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

The computer woes continue, and I sit here trying to think rapidly and type even faster to get this blog post done while the battery lasts.  It’s a race against time!  Actually, it’s a race against battery.  What does that even mean, anyways, “race against time.”  Isn’t any race where you’re being timed a race against time?  And does time ever go any faster? Now, let’s not get all philosophical about that!  Oh well, I guess you can if you want to.

Where was I?  Ah yes, Non-Sequitur Thursday.  I’m thinking this has been a rather lame week, and I’m pretty damn happy that tomorrow is Lame Post Friday.  I tried to write a real post while on breaks at work today.  I got over a page written about an old movie I watched last weekend.  I don’t know that I would call it a cheesy movie exactly, but I thought I was saying some pretty good stuff (or do I flatter myself?  Always a possibility).  However, it is not finished yet and I do not have the mental wherewithal to finish it now.  Sorry about that.

I have a couple of emails I have to send regarding theatre business.  I tried writing them earlier too, in hopes of saving time later.  Naturally I am second guessing what I wrote, wondering if I ought to edit further, and obsessing over who I ought to courtesy copy.  There’s a social land mine, if you like.  What if I cc the wrong people and they send me a nasty reply?  What if I don’t cc somebody who thinks they ought to have been cc’d and they yell at me?  I hate to be yelled at.  What if I cc somebody who doesn’t give a rat’s ass and they roll their eyes at me?  In the scheme of things, I suppose having eyes rolled at one is not the worst thing that could happen.  Still, I find it unpleasant.

Now I see I am over 300 words of this nonsense.  I hope I have at least been amusing.  I’ll try to finish that movie write-up so I can post it in lieu of Lame Post Friday (I really like that expression “in lieu of”).  Happy Thursday, everyone.

 

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Woe and Wuss

Posted on January 14, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Today is Wuss-out Wednesday due to computer woes.  I must compose quickly and get off my device while I still have power.

My plan had been to write something BEFORE getting on the computer.  Did I? Of course not!  I had Blogger’s Blank.  Ooh, nice alliteration there.  Usually I have Writer’s Blank, but in fact I wrote a couple of pages on a letter, most of an article for Mohawk Valley Living, and a page and a half in the TV Journal.  I can write fine!  I just can’t seem to write a blog post.

Winter continues to pummel the Mohawk Valley, but unevenly.  Some places got lots of snow, some a little, but everybody at least some.  And it was COLD!   I know, I know, it’s January.  I wasn’t complaining about it, I was just reporting.

After work today I met with a lady who wants to do a dinner theatre as a fundraiser for her church.  She reached out to Ilion Little Theatre for help, which I say was a very good choice.  When the matter first came up at one of our dinner meetings, I said, “You know, you do have a member that used to write murder mystery dinner theatre and is dying to do another one!”

A few actors expressed an interest.  I started writing.  Today, as I said, I met with the lady from the church, and it looks as if this is going to happen.  That will definitely be worth a blog post or two!

For today, however, this is all I got.  At least it is over 250 words.  I’m going to go back and write some more in the TV Journal.  Happy Wednesday, everyone.

 

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Musings on Medium (or Medium Meanderings?)

Posted on January 12, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Today is a real let myself off the hook day.  I did not run, I have not done anything remotely useful around the house, and I did not write a blog post earlier today.  It’s going to be a Monday Middle-age Musings or Monday Mental Meanderings (take your pick; I’m not even making myself choose one).

One thing I often notice in my writing is how what I’m writing on and writing with makes a difference.  At least, I have not done a real study on if it makes a difference in the writing itself.  But I definitely notice a difference in how I feel.  I’m thinking this is because I love the physical act of writing so much.  Putting words on paper (or screen, as the case may be) is fun.

I like writing by hand in a spiral notebook.  My handwriting is messy, and I sometimes get writer’s cramp, but in general I love the movement and I love watching the squiggly lines appear.  I write in pen these days.  I prefer a thin ballpoint.  I can live with a medium point, but anything over 1 mm is too bulky for me.  I used to write almost exclusively in pencil.  I liked the sound of the scratching.  I must try that again one day soon.

When I first started this blog (May 23, 2011, in case you were wondering), I would write my post on paper, then type it into the computer.  Sometimes I would write it the night before, sometimes just earlier in the day.  Of course, being me, I could not keep up that level of preparedness and was soon composing at the keyboard, as I am today.

Today I am on my desktop, which has a full-size keyboard.  For quite a while now I have been typing my posts on our Acer, which has a smaller keyboard.  Not one of those bitty, baby things you see on some people’s devices, but small enough that it took some getting used to.  Right now my hands are rather enjoying stretching out.  They feel bad-ass.

Of course, if I really want my hands to feel bad-ass, I must haul out my old manual typewriters.  I used to whale on a manual typewriter!  I have a minor collection now.  Sometimes I find them at garage sales or second-hand stores.  My parents recently gave me a fabulous old Remington.  I must clean it up and display it somewhere.  Maybe I’ll first roll a piece of paper into it and see what comes out.

For now, though, I see I am over 400 words.  That is more than respectable for a Monday!  I’ll try for something other than a Tired Tuesday post tomorrow.

 

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Turns Out Polonius Was Right

Posted on January 1, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

It is New Year’s Eve, although as the previous two posts may have pointed out, it will probably be dated January 1, 2016.  I can’t worry about that now.  I must make my post!  (Said with a dramatic gesture.)

It is not Lame Post Friday, my usual place for half-baked philosophy, yet what better time can there be to wax philosophical than the threshold of another year?  Oh, you can probably think of lots of times (you know who you are). Why do I even bother with these rhetorical questions? HELLO!  THAT ONE WAS RHETORICAL TOO!!!

There is some controversy about the efficacy of New Year’s Resolutions.  Many people firmly eschew them. Others embrace them with fervor.  (Look at me articulating with the E words: “efficacy,” “eschew,” “embrace!”)  I personally am of two minds here.

Part of me says, “Take any opportunity to improve yourself, you need it” (yes, I often talk to myself in the second person).  And for another reason, how can you worry about self-improvement during the holidays?  Start a diet with all those Christmas cookies and candy around?  Clean the house amidst all those decorations?  Work on that novel when you have shopping, wrapping and partying to do?  It’s madness, I tell you! (Again, with dramatic gesture.)

The other part of me says, “You’re setting yourself up for failure!  You’ll never stick to it, and then you’ll feel bad about yourself!”  Quite frankly, I think this is a spurious argument.  Say I start a diet in January then eat a pan of fudge brownies in February.  Does this mean I have to wait until next January to start another diet, thus wallowing in self-loathing for 10 months?  Well, I guess that would give me a chance to eat a lot more brownies…

My real problem is that I feel all self-conscious, like I’m doing the cliche, obvious thing, having a New Year’s Resolution. None of the cool kids are doing it.  And by “cool kids,” of course I mean the unusual, alternative, unexpected kids.

And then I come to the stunning realization:  EITHER WAY, I’M FOLLOWING A CROWD!  Some people make New Year’s Resolutions, some do not.  Whatever I do I’m wrong.

Or, whatever I do, I’m right.

Happy New Year, everybody.

 

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It’s Just a Jump to the Left…

Posted on December 31, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Well, I am in a hell of a time warp.  I often am on short weeks (I have Friday off). Monday, of course, was Monday.  Then for some reason I thought Tuesday was still Monday.  I was rather pleased to realize it was Tuesday.  However, Tuesday evening I went ahead and wrote my blog post thinking it was Wednesday.  I even put it under the category Wuss-out Wednesday.  What was that all about?

Clearly, days have ceased to have a 24-hour definition for me.  I expected Monday to last indefinitely while Tuesday was over well ahead of time.  Can I offer an mitigating circumstances in my defense?  I fear not.

I suppose one might say, “Oh, it’s the holiday,” and drive on.  Then another might say, “If you’re in that much of a time warp, you’d better not drive.  What would 55 miles an hour look like when you don’t even know how long an hour is?”  Good point.  Still another might begin singing and dancing “The Time Warp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show.

That was what I wrote while on a break at work today.  When I returned to work, my time warp took the form of minutes and hours passing vvveeerrryyyy vvvveeeeerrrryyyy  sssssllllllooooooowwwwlllllllyyyyyy…..  However, since this is a common phenomenon at work two days before a three day weekend, I was not more than usually perturbed by it.

I got home to discover that at least one reader had indeed caught me getting my days mixed up.  How mortifying.  And how not surprising.  If only yesterday had been Non-Sequitur Thursday, everything would have been just fine. What can I do?  I think I’ll take option number one:  say, “Oh, it’s the holiday,” and drive on.  Happy It Really Is Wednesday This Time, everyone.

 

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We’ll Call It a Win

Posted on December 24, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I hope everybody is having a Merry Christmas Eve Eve.  That is what a friend of my sister’s declared December 23 many years ago.  They said, “Today is Christmas Eve Eve.”  They even got a little silly and started saying that yesterday had been Christmas Eve Eve Eve.  I don’t remember how many Eves they got to before they got bored with it, but they had no use for my suggestion that the day after Christmas must be Christmas Vee.

I lead with a memory to avoid straight out declaring that this is Wuss-out Wednesday, but I think we all knew it was coming.   Christmas preparations, what a tiring endeavor!  I had thought to write a blog post while at work today and save us all the pain of Wuss-out Wednesday, but I had no ideas.  Then I started thinking about a murder mystery I had committed to write and found out I actually had lots of ideas.  Once I got on break, I started writing on that.  Oh, what fun!  I love writing murder mysteries!

Just to be clear:  it’s not a novel and it’s not a real play.  It is interactive dinner theatre.  At one time I wrote a good many of them. They were very well received by certain North Country audiences in the 1990s.  But people who go on about past glories are tiresome (except when it’s “tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago,” like in the song).

After work, I had barely an hour and a half before Steven got off work and it was time to whisk off to Rome and my parents’ house.  I thought briefly about making my blog post then, but I had several chores to finish.  With that in mind, I put on some coffee, jumped in the shower and once I was clean, dry and dressed, I got to work.  I packed, I wrapped, I loaded the car, I checked my to-do list for what I had forgotten, I took care of the stuff I had forgotten, I remembered some stuff that was not on the list, I took care of that.

And I got it all done!  All Steven had to do when he got home was change his clothes, put coffee in travel mugs and let me drive us to Rome.   I was awesome!  At least, I have not yet remembered anything else I forgot, so we’ll call it a win.

And now I have written an unusual 400 some words on my silly blog post for the day.  If only I could come up with a title, I would be reasonably content with my lot in life.  Hmmm… nothing is coming, although I am getting a few more ideas for that murder mystery.

 

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Put a Little Tinsel on that Tired Tuesday Post

Posted on December 23, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

You probably guessed I was going to have a Tired Tuesday post.  After all, All Christmas All The Time, stress over getting stuff done — I mean NOT getting stuff done — other ongoing problems that I keep boring on about… and I’m just usually tired on a Tuesday.  So shoot me.

As I struggled to get presents together, I remembered something:  I have all day Christmas Eve.  My only sticky wicket there (that is the first time in my life I have ever used the expression “sticky wicket”) is that I am spending all of Christmas Eve at my parents’ house.  I had originally thought I could help my mother with her last minute preparations (and by “help,” of course I mean sit around and visit).  I’m not saying I’m going to ask her to help me, but I do hope she will provide some moral support.

More importantly, do I have the Christmas Spirit?  Intermittently, yes.  In between setbacks such as remembering the laundry in the drier and noticing that the hour is approaching my bed time (no, I CAN’T stay up till all hours getting stuff done and still function tomorrow; I never could although I used to be dumb enough to try).

Be all that as it may (that is an expression I use quite frequently), I have typed in over 200 words (as Truman Capote said and I have quoted before, “That’s not writing, that’s typing”), and I consider that a post.  Happy Tuesday and Merry Three Days Before Christmas.

 

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Are Cuff Links the Same Thing as Cuff Buttons?

Posted on December 15, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Well, this is what happened to me today.  I opened my notebook (my paper, spiral-bound notebook; I was on a break at work) and found a blog post I wrote last month about a cheesy horror movie I had seen.  Of course I read it (I like to read my own writing, although I feel rather conceited that I do).  It was OK. I could use this.

Today’s blog post taken care of (so I thought), I turned a few pages (I had written other things in that notebook besides the movie write-up) and began a post about some fun in Little Falls Steven and I had on Saturday.  That was going pretty good, too, till I got a little bogged down.  No matter,  I told myself, this is Tuesday’s post well started and I can just use the movie post for today.

When I got home I briefly considered typing an off-the-cuff Monday Mental Meanderings just because I was so tired (it is Monday, after all).  Then I told myself to not be such a bum and start typing.  I got my notebook, found the movie post, and started typing.

Boy, do I write a lot about those cheesy horror movies!  I got tired of typing real quick but kept going.  Till I got even more tired.  Then I looked at how much more I had to type.  No way!  Why knew I was that prolific?

What now?  Type in what I have on the Little Falls post and finish that?   I’m not up for it.  I should have gone with the off the cuff post to begin with, because, to be honest, by this time I have nothing on my cuffs.  I probably never did.  Where did that expression come from, anyways, “off the cuff”?  Is that from when cuffs were separate pieces that got attached to shirts with cuff-links or cuff-buttons and people wrote notes to themselves on them?  Did people write notes to themselves on their cuffs?  It sounds like a handy spot.

Oh, will you look at that?  I just had an authentic Mental Meandering and it’s still Monday.  I declare this post done.

 

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Wrist to Christmas?

Posted on December 7, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

As I sit here in my living room, Acer on my lap, Angela Lansbury is singing that she Needs a Little Christmas NOW!

Don’t we all?

Oh, I know, not everybody celebrates Christmas and not everybody loves it blah, blah, blah.  I’m just going to be perfectly up front about it: I LOVE Christmas (the whole Christmas season. Oh, please don’t ask why, no one quite knows the reason)  (How many of you can quote large passages of How the Grinch Stole Christmas if not the whole thing?  Oh, I know some of you can and do; it’s not just me).

Where was I?  Ah yes, Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  After my Santa breakfasting, slow driving and furniture moving adventures yesterday, I had a little too much white wine and stayed up a little too late watching television.  In my defense… why am I defending myself to you?  Are you judging me? Well, I would never judge someone for judging me, BUT…

I started my entertainment oriented evening with a movie I had DVR’d from TCM on Boris Karloff day. I adore Boris Karloff.  This movie also had Edmund Gwenn, who of course played Santa Clause on Miracle on 34th Street.  I saw the name in the opening credits but it did not register till I heard the actor talk and said, “Hey, that’s Santa Claus!”  So with Santa and the Grinch in the cast, it was almost like watching a Christmas movie.

Later on, Steven and I watched our DVD of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, so I could really bask in Karloff’s mellifluous tones.    We followed it up with Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol and Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  These Christmas specials bring back so many memories.  Of course we also discuss the song lyrics (after singing along), the dated gender-based messages, and other sorts of observations that theatre-oriented persons such as Steven and I are bound to make.

Right now we are listening to Christmas CDs, of which we have an extensive collection, and debating out moves for the rest of the day.  I personally could get into watching a couple of Christmas movies and going for a walk once the sun sets to enjoy our neighbors’ Christmas lights.  As always, I’ll try to work on a better blog post for tomorrow.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

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