Tag Archives: half-baked philosophy

Do Something Lame

Posted on July 19, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I shall never forget the sad morning when I thought to myself, “I wish it was Thursday instead of Wednesday.” Then I thought, “You idiot, it’s Tuesday.”

Thousands of Monday through Friday wage slaves are nodding wisely in agreement (hey, I MIGHT have 1,000s of readers. It could happen!). Others are shaking their heads in disparagement. I think the ones that annoy me most are those that smugly chirp, “Do something you love. You’ll never work a day in your life.”

I have to take exception to that. I can’t believe there is any job you love SO much that there is NEVER a day that you wouldn’t rather stay in bed an extra hour, go to the beach, stay home and watch old movies, whatever. Perhaps it is a matter of proportion. These people feel that as long as MOST days they are happy to get out of bed and go to their job, they can gloss over the occasional bout of Don’t Wanna. I can only say, “That’s nice for you; the rest of us work for a living.”

Well, what’s wrong with work anyways? Work is what gets us stuff. What else but work gives one the satisfaction of a job well done? May I point out that many of us spend much money and effort WORKING OUT?

I think it is a matter of definition (and not the definition your muscles get if you work out enough; that’s different). I quote Mark Twain in Tom Sawyer. Work consists of anything a body is obliged to do. Play consists of anything a body wants to do. (OK, I’m paraphrasing. I can’t quote, because I don’t have a copy of Tom Sawyer handy).

He’s got something there. Then again, there is the school of thought that says we always do what we want to do. For example, I don’t want to go to work, but I do want to get paid.

I think both schools of thought have a point, but quite frankly, it is not the way people talk and I for one am not going to begin talking that way at my age. I will continue to WORK on my novel, and insist that I am doing something even though I DON’T WANT TO. So there.

Does anybody remember what I was talking about? I think it was Friday. Today is Lame Post Friday, my favorite day for half-baked philosophy. Getting back to the “never work a day in your life” folks, I argue thusly: That sort of job is not easy to come by. In the meantime, I attempt to get at least some enjoyment out of every day. And I can’t imagine any job where the day before my day off is not a pretty darn good day.

Happy Friday, all.

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Feeling Un-Cool

Posted on July 14, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’m just going to put it out there now: I intend to run the Boilermaker next year. And right now, I’m going to write a Wrist to Forehead Sunday post about my intentions.

For the uninitiated, the Boilermaker is an annual 15k race in Utica, NY. It’s huge, in any sense of the word, and it’s the most fun you’ll ever have running 15 kilometers. I’ve run it three times. I had been going to run it this year, but I was having trouble getting my training started and I just let myself feel too intimidated at the thought of me and 13,999 other runners.

Yes, they set the cap at 14,000 runners and it filled up in a matter of hours. That’s how cool this race has become. How un-cool do I feel that I wasn’t one of them? Pretty darn un-cool, let me tell you.

I’ve been doing pretty good with my running just recently. At least, it goes pretty well when I run, but I have not been running enough. My main concern this year is to be ready for the Herkimer DARE 5K August 16. I think I’ve got that pretty well in hand, if I keep doing what I’m doing only a little better.

And isn’t that the essence of running, and in fact life in general (watch out, I’m veering into some half-baked philosophy now)? To do a little better.

Hmmmm… suddenly I’m starting to feel a little better. Anyone can improve themselves. I can improve. Now to get my wrist off my forehead and get going.

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Leave Katy Perry Alone!

Posted on July 12, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

For today’s Friday Lame Post, I offer some half-baked philosophy about something I saw on Facebook recently. This meme (they’re called “memes,” right?) showed a quote from Katy Perry saying she was reminded about how the angels were helping her. A drawing of a superior-looking woman offered the tart comment that apparently angels were not concerned about starving children in Asia; they had their hands full helping wealthy, pampered celebrities. Oh, these narcissistic entertainers!

At first glance, one is inclined to say, “That’s right! Shame on you, Katy Perry for invoking the angels. YOU don’t need any help!” Then I thought about it and I have to ask, what is she supposed to say? If, for example, she had said, “I’m so talented and awesome, I did all this MYSELF!” no doubt some people would be saying, “Katy Perry, you egotistical slut. Admit you had help!”

Why shouldn’t angels have helped Katy Perry? May I remind you that financial backers of Broadway shows are often called angels. I understand angels come in all shapes and sizes. I really can’t say who any given angel might choose to help.

Let’s get back to the starving children in Asia. Oh, and children in this country with cancer, and homeless pets and people, and all the other truly deserving causes we could name (naming them would take a whole blog post by itself). It would be nice if some angels would help some of those, wouldn’t it?

Waaaaait a minute (in that voice I use when pointing up a plot hole in a cheesy movie)! If angels come in all shapes and sizes, could it be that WE are the angels? I’m betting that any number of my readers already are. We support causes, give to charity, and encourage others to do the same. I daresay most of us don’t do all that we COULD do. For heavens’ sake, I’m a blog-writing factory worker, not Mother Theresa.

Not to be too gooily uplifting, but writing this post has reminded me that sometimes we are the answers to each others prayers. I will continue to look for more ways in which I can help. In the meantime, let’s leave Katy Perry alone.

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What I Can Write Right Now

Posted on July 9, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

It is a dreadful thing when one has made up one’s mind to write and the only thing one can find to write about is one’s apparent complete inability to write anything worth reading.

Um, you figured out that “one” is me, right?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, what’s a blogger to do? Today I’m going to do what has worked for me in the past: just write whatever I can write right now and trust that better words will be forthcoming. what I’m really hoping is that they will be forthcoming today, and I can type this into my Drafts section for use one day when I am really desperate (making a Full Disclosure, of course) (um, as it happens, I am using it today. Don’t judge).

Part of my problem is the weather. It is a sticky, icky day, conducive to lounging around near a fan and doing nothing. Of course I am not doing that; I’m at work (writing on a break, as usual). I remind myself that I have written on such days before but the memory does not seem to help.

My novel plods on. OK, it’s a hot mess. I can’t figure out what I want to happen or even how I would like it to end. I am reminded of a poster hanging in a guidance counselor’s office in my junior high school, “If you don’t know where you are going you will probably end up somewhere else.” I thought it a dire warning at the time. Now I think, “If you enjoy the trip, at least that’s something.” But now I’m making global statements and veering into half-baked philosophy. Leave that for Lame Post Friday, Cindy. We were talking about one novel, not Your Life.

I guess I’m not going to solve my novel problem by writing a blog post about now being able to write. Still, it felt pretty good to put some words on paper. One does what one can, after all.

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To Half and to Half Not

Posted on July 5, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

Well it’s Lame Post Friday and I’ve never felt lamer. I just said that in a reply to a comment somebody made on yesterday’s post, which was also no great shakes. I do love my Lame Post Friday, but I must confess today’s is less delightful, because it is the last day of my week off. Um, I still have the weekend, so it doesn’t totally suck. But vacation is, sadly, drawing to a close. Perhaps I could muster some half-baked philosophy to lighten my mental burden (as regular readers know, this is my traditional day for random observations and half-baked philosophy).

That was a long first paragraph. Is anybody still reading? No matter, I write for my own entertainment as well.

I have had a rather pleasant week. Last year at this time I was dealing with a flooded basement. It was good that I had the week off to deal with it; bad that I had to spend my precious week off dealing with it. So the glass was half-full and half-empty. Hmmm, lots of halves today.

Thinking of halves, when you were a little kid, did you ever divide something into three halves? Then you found out that “half” meant two parts, so you got all superior when some other little kid divided something into three halves.

And that’s over 200 words. Sufficiently lame, I trust. Happy Fourth of July, everyone.

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I Could Go for a Bloody Mary

Posted on June 17, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

Once again, I spent time before work and on breaks working on what should have been a perfectly acceptable blog post. And it’s just not there yet. Luckily, it is Monday. Having skirted Wrist to Forehead Sunday with another Running Commentary, I feel free to have a Middle-aged Musings Monday.

What I was musing about today veers a little into half-baked philosophy. And into religion, which Mohawk Valley Girl usually stays out of (likewise politics). In fact, I was about to stay out of it today, but I don’t have a whole lot else and, really, one must not shy away from controversy. I’m not sure how controversial I’ll be, half-baked as I usually am. But here goes.

When people think God is punishing them, how do they know? I mean, it seems easy enough: I do something wrong. Something bad happens to me. God must be punishing me (or Karma or the Universe; I’m non-denominational).

Boy, wouldn’t that be nice, if I thought I only did one damn thing wrong!

Anyways, we’re not talking about me. Let’s try an historical example. When Mary Tudor, also known as Bloody Mary, ruled England, a lot of stuff went wrong with the country. She thought for sure God was punishing her for not bringing everybody back into the fold of her religion. So she kept burning those she considered heretics. Bad things continued to happen. She thought she probably had not burned enough people so redoubled her efforts.

Do you suppose it occurred to anybody at the time that perhaps she was being punished FOR burning people and not for NOT burning ENOUGH people? I’m not saying that’s what I think God had in mind (I do NOT pretend to know what God thinks), I’m saying, HOW COULD SHE KNOW?

This whole topic is a lot more complex than I am making it right now. However, this is what I pondered at work today, when I wasn’t working on the blog topic that didn’t work out. And this is what I’ll post. We’ll try for a Mohawk Valley adventure tomorrow.

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My Philosophy is You Have to be Philosophical About It

Posted on June 6, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

My plan was to write two posts today. I intend to give blood at work tomorrow. Sometimes my body reacts badly to that and all I can do is lie down and watch the room spin. So I thought, I’ll write my Friday Lame Post on Thursday as well as Thursday’s post, type both in and be ahead of the game. I’ve done it before. I can rock this.

I even had some pretty good half-baked philosophy for Lame Post Friday. I had no ideas for Thursday, but there’s always Non-Sequitur Thursday. I sat down and wrote two paragraphs for Friday. That I wasn’t so thrilled with. I spent the rest of my breaks at work solving Cryptogram puzzles from a Dell Puzzle Book or working on the crossword in the newspaper with a friend of mine.

Well, Thursday’s post was still going to happen. I had plans to go home and plant my tomatoes. I could do a gardening post. Well I may yet do that. For right now… well, let’s just say the tomatoes are not planted yet and at least I didn’t cry.

I can’t, I positively can not keep writing posts about Why I Can’t Write a Post. Well, apparently I can. The question is will anybody keep reading them?

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Middle-aged Me

Posted on May 27, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I can’t help how many foolish posts I have in a row. Some Mondays I can only manage a Middle-aged Musing Monday.

You know, I go around calling myself middle-aged or an old lady, but I don’t think I have really internalized what that means. For example, yesterday I went running, walked my dog, mowed the lawn with a non-power mower, did some work around the house, ran around to four different stores and did a few other less overtly physical chores. Then I got up at 3:30 this morning. And I’m surprised that I’m tired.

Other people seem to have plenty of energy to do everything they want to do. Or do they? Perhaps they just spend less time complaining about how tired they are. Perhaps they are too tired to complain and I misinterpret their silence. How much energy does complaining take anyways? I’m thinking not much, because I can almost always manage a great deal.

In order to stop complaining, I will muse about something positive. I absolutely LOVE tea. I am sipping a cup of hot oolong now and it is improving my quality of life by leaps and bounds. It is not giving me enough energy to, for example, finish my container garden or even finish the blog post I started to write about it. For heavens’ sake, it’s a cup of tea, not a miracle.

I end this post with a question, perhaps of the half-baked philosophical type: is “by leaps and bounds” a cliche or an idiomatic expression?

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The Dog Ate my Blog Post

Posted on May 24, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

Subtitle: Lame Excuses (which I may have used as a title previously) (too lazy to check, sorry). Did anybody seriously think I was going to forgo Lame Post Friday? Say it ain’t so!

My question of half-baked philosophy for today is: why do I get more Likes on these ridiculous posts than I do on my so-called (by me) real posts? Oh dear, have I just asked for nobody to Like this post? Oh well, I guess people will Like or not what they please. I have no control over other people.

So much for half-baked philosophy. What about random observations (on the off chance that there are readers just tuning in: Lame Post Friday is the day for random observations and half-baked philosophy). Steven and I both observed an adorably happy retriever-looking dog sticking his or her head out of a car. Steven at first was not sure if it was a dog, since it pulled its head back in for a moment (he was driving so was not observing as attentively as was I). Then he or she stuck his or her head back out again. Very cute.

Should I mention we were on our way to Happy Hour at the Belly Up Pub at the time? Or will people think I am a lush? Or judge me for drinking and typing? Well, I didn’t have that much to drink. We were only there an hour. We ate some munchies and enjoyed the mellow sounds of Phillip Arcuri. I intend to write a blog post about it.

For now, well, I’m afraid that’s it. I’m going to enjoy the rest of my Friday night. I hope you will do the same.

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Lame: Ain’t it Grand?

Posted on May 10, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

It does not matter how many ridiculous posts I may have in a week, I still love my Lame Post Friday, home of random observations and half-baked philosophy.

I took my schnoodle Tabby for a walk this afternoon, hoping to come up with some of the former. Mostly I observed tulips in people’s yards. I love tulips. I think I like the orange and yellow ones best. They are blooming late this year, as are most things. Perhaps I should go into some half-baked philosophy here about being something of a late bloomer myself. Then again, most people probably do not want to hear about my bloomers (sorry, couldn’t resist).

I also observed a young couple on the sidewalk a block or two ahead of me, holding hands. Young love, ain’t it grand? My main observation was of their clothing. It seems to me that gender divisions in clothes are becoming more pronounced. The boys’ are getting baggier while the girls’ are getting tighter. Well, I have not exactly done a study.

The warm weather does seem to have people in a better mood (just to put in some more half-baked philosophy). Warm weather, warm hearts? Well, Tabby and I enjoyed it. For the first time since fall, I walked without any kind of jacket.

Wow, this is a really boring post (my next stunning observation). However, my gentle readers will suffer no longer. I’m over 200 words. Happy Friday, everybody.

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