Musings

#MondayThoughts because it’s really Monday

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Sunshine just in time for Monday. Yesterday was bleak and chilly, and it started raining later in the afternoon. Still, I got outside at the Morton Arboretum, where the trees were in beautiful bloom.

At least it wasn’t crowded.

I’ve only got one foot in Monday, the other is somewhere else, somewhere dreamy.

I need that one.

Two feet are good. Or so I hear.

We’re nearly halfway through May already, and I feel like the year just started. But the weather is turning, in theory, and the grass is green now, in practice, and the seasons march on no matter how we feel about them.

I think this is going to be a timer week. I have so many things to get into, it always helps me to focus, because I know, for that stretch of time I work on what I’m working on and only that.

I’ll let you know how it’s going on Friday.

Have a productive Monday!

Check out  my full-length novels: 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird and FREE!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

#WednesdayWisdom: Seizing

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It’s an on-the-go blog post today, no time to chat before I had to be out in the world, so I’ll chat out in the world.

Technology is like constant miracles.

I’m doing the world’s favorite pastime, waiting for the cable guy, but not even for me. I nominate myself for sainthood.

And here he is. And let us all say, woo-hoo.

It might shock you to learn there are problems. Sigh. Not technically my problems, only borrowed. Yet here I am, solving them.

There will soon be a flurry of activity here, so I’m going to take a moment to soak in the quiet. Have a great Wednesday.

My brain at the start of 2019

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It’s 2019 and a Wednesday that feels like a Monday. Only it’s not, it’s Wednesday.

2019 is a little confusing.

I’ve been thinking about organization’s cousin, productivity, so I spent a small part of the morning checking out productivity apps. Because there’s no better way to procrastinate doing what you’re going to do than by finding a way to sharpen all the virtual pencils possible before you do what you’re going to do.

This may surprise you, or this may not surprise you, I don’t know how surprise-prone you are, but there are a plethora of apps intended to help your productivity. Or intended to make it easier for you to mask your lack of productivity by putting a whole bunch of layers between you and it, whatever.

To avoid being overwhelmed, I found an article posted on Lifehack.org. Honestly, for some I couldn’t fathom the purpose. There was one that promised to improve your focus by playing music specifically tuned to your psychological profile…for $9.95 a month. That’s the cost of a streaming service subscription.

No thanks.

Different things will appeal to different people, I found a couple I thought were interesting, and I’ll report back to you, you know, as always.

What’s on your mind for 2019? Hope it’s off to a great, great start.

Check out  my full-length novels: 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s quick and weird and FREE!
Peruse Montraps Publishing
Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

Monday strikes with full Monday.

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Let’s start of with I had to retype “Monday” three times. It’s so Monday and Monday MEANS IT.

I had one of those issues this morning with a part of bill-paying life we’ve started to take for granted. I don’t want to go into gory details on the world wide web, but I feel like I’m at the beginning of a long, twisted metaphorical headache.

Which could lead to a long, twisted non-metaphorical headache.

Woo. Hoo.

It’s gray and snowy and I set a goal to get my hall closet organized. It needed it like you wouldn’t believe, and I got ambitious with all the organizing I did for my parents. But I’m at the “What was I thinking” stage.

But here’s reality. If we don’t stop and take stock, we don’t know where we are or what we have. We become jumbled; it’s tough to see what’s what.

Or maybe that’s just hall closets.

So I’m off to the task at hand, made better by a lovely group of folks who helped me make a playlist. I highly recommend doing the same.

How’s your Monday going? Better, I hope, than mine. Have a great week.

Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.
Check out  my full-length novels: 
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 
Her Cousin Much Removed
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s free!
Peruse Montraps Publishing

Taking advantage in a good way

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So I have a few minutes while out and about, and figured why not get a blog post in?

Look at my efficiency. LOOK AT IT.

Thank you.

I’ve marvelled at it before, but the ease of technology still gets me sometimes. I can sit here and talk to you from practically anywhere.

With a WiFi connection.

Kinda need the WiFi.

But that’s the way of the world, things that would have been inconceivable a few years ago are routine now.

The imagination abounds.

Anyway, have a marvelous Thanksgiving if that’s your thing and I’ll probably post our photo prompt tomorrow if not or you have a few minutes to play.

Election done, what about the cold?

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casual cheerful confident facial expression

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

The midterms are over, which is tough to believe as we’ve focused on little else for two years. And I’m pleased. We didn’t get perfection, but I feel that we’ve yanked ourselves back from the brink, and that’s important.

But the cold.

This stupid, stupid cold just keeps going.

I’m tired and I’m sneezy, and I’m very very tired of being sneezy.

Happy about the elections. But sick of being sick. It’s very annoying.  I don’t think I’ve had a cold that lingered this long in ages.

Haven’t gotten back to my workout routine yet, which is a real bummer, but I hear breathing is an important part of working out. Just a rumor.

So that’s the status on this Wednesday after elections. Hope your week is going well.

Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

Check out  my full-length novels: 

Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   

Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 

 Her Cousin Much Removed

 The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.

And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s free!

Peruse Montraps Publishing

NaNoWriMo: The Final Decision

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No hesitation about the second cup of coffee today. It’s brewing as I type.

And it’s done. After a whole lot of thinking, I’m in for NaNoWriMo this year! But I’m going to be a rebel about it.

Not sure that this decision bodes well, given I spent half an hour trying to find the banners on the site, and then finally gave up and just used my BFF Google, who found them immediately. I’m sure there’s a lesson in it.

That lesson could be Google knows all.

But back to being a rebel. Traditionally for NaNo, you start a new novel on Nov. 1, fresh and clean.

And I would have liked to do that.

But I’ve decided words are words, and I will finish up the one so I can start the next. Is it a perfect NaNo?

Probably not.

But.

Letting go of things having to be exactly right and exactly perfect is a big part of this year. Because most things aren’t even marginally right or in the same universe as perfect.

Why not NaNo?

Are you doing NaNo this year? Let me know!

Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

Check out  my full-length novels: 

Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   

Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 

 Her Cousin Much Removed

 The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.

And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s free!

Peruse Montraps Publishing

Positivity isn’t going to fix it.

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I want that next cup of coffee, but I know I’ll be vibrating like concert hall stage.

Although that doesn’t sound like too bad a thing. Hang on a second, I’ll be right back. It’s brewing.

Wait, I think it’s done. Ahh. Coffee.

We’re racking up the dark days of democracy right now, and I have some concerns we’re merely in the dimly-lit tunnel heading into the maze of a mine. In other words, I’m not optimistic lately.

As you know, I love my Daily Burn, but this week has been about postitivity and optimism, and given recent events, that seems hollow, almost insulting. The problem right now isn’t a negative mental attitude, it’s the reality of a hostile regime wanting to strip people of their citizenship and sending military to the border to confront unarmed refugees.

I don’t see a good way to look at it.

One of my favorite trainers is leaving, apparently, which is much smaller in scale but disappointing nonetheless. Even wearing my lovely 13th Doctor “Doctor Who” shirt isn’t making anything look better.

The only way out is to change the legislature, because Republicans have been clear: they will not act as a check against trump’s quest for unlimited power. There is nothing he can do that is too far for them.

That alone should be chilling.

NaNo looms ahead, but it’s hard to look toward it. We are up to our necks right now, and the water level is rising. Show up.

Vote.

 

 

Roaring Monday

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There’s so much Monday in this Monday, I’m Mondayed out, and it’s not even 11 AM. Nazis are trending on twitter, and I got some “both sides” nonsense in the comments.

Yet another no.

There aren’t “both sides” when one of the sides is comprised of actual nazis. Nazis pushing conspiracies about Jews right on the heels of a mass murder in a synagogue which may not have happened had trump not dissolved the unit that tracked white nationalist domestic terrorist groups.

“Both sides” don’t put children in concentration camps or shrug when a journalist is brutally murdered and dismembered. “Both sides” weren’t sending pipe bombs or finding black people to murder in a grocery store when a black church was locked.

“Both sides” aren’t saying they want to kill gay people, but are willing to do it “humanely.”

There aren’t “both sides.” They are not the same. Nodding politely at such garbage normalizes people who intend to do grievous harm to others, who have done grievous harm to others.

It gives cover to such people. And in doing so, you become one of those people.

Do you want to be one of the people committing grievous harm on others? If you do, this is not the place for you.

If you don’t, it’s time to reconsider the way you filter information.

Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

Check out  my full-length novels: 

Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   

Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 

 Her Cousin Much Removed

 The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.

And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s free!

Peruse Montraps Publishing

 

Thinking Tuesday

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Online can be such a magical place. I needed a birthday gift for a friend, and in no time, boom, I had one ordered.

Easy peasy.

We can communicate with one another across the country and around the world; around the world is a common distance on this blog. Imagine that. Casual conversations thousands upon thousands of miles apart.

It’s like another realm, another kingdom where distance is irrelevant.

And it has its downsides, of course. People find it’s a great outlet to release the worst sides of themselves. Groups exploit it for their gain, hiring people to pretend to be something they aren’t really, but are solely for pay. One person can have thousands of accounts, and while mimicking a crowd, is only a lone soul typing very loudly.

It’s difficult to imagine what someone who’d never seen the internet would think of it. I wonder if its virtual state is part of what makes this period of time so unbelievable.

Or maybe it’s the period of time that makes it unbelievable.

But I’ve got to say, gift shopping has definitely benefited, no question. Almost anything in the world, here before you know it.

Like my political side? Read my opinion pieces here.

Check out  my full-length novels: 

Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)   

Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) 

 Her Cousin Much Removed

 The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.

And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s free!

Peruse Montraps Publishing