Think of the ocean: or a pool. What comes to mind when you see or hear the word ‘shallow’? The water is so low, I’m barely getting wet … I can just dip my toes in … It’s too cold to go all the way in … Shallow means a lack of commitment in a way. Staying in the shallow end means it looks like the person is in the water, but they are only in a wee bit. There’s little risk in shallow. Think about the deep end. I nearly drowned once as a kid after getting pushed into…
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California is burning. Photo courtesy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/fireman-on-top-of-a-ladder-3208882/ Not just California but much of the northwest. I was in bed, eyes open, a couple of nights ago, thinking about what I would want to save from this house should it be threatened by fire, in no specific order. Photo albums: my son’s baby photos, the albums with my mom, dad, grandmother, and me as a baby. My computer and some other tech. The print copy of my will. Several small antique trinkets that have personal meaning to me. Pet food (and pets of course). My beloved. There might have been a few…
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The first words that came to my mind as I awoke at about 2 am: hag fish. I think it was the ‘hag’ part that kept me awake. When I think of the word ‘hag’, I think of an older woman, perhaps one who some might say is a bit off-mark, more than a bit quirky, occasionally prone to bouts of weirdness. In other words, me. However, I wasn’t feeling particularly hag fish-ish, or even hag-ish. I was feeling more … angler fish-ish… All dressed up and nowhere to go … (photo courtesy strawberrymilky.blogspot.com) … unusual, adorned, regal … but…
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I first thought the keyboard emoji for a heart was a kiss. <3 The ‘3’ are the lips and the ‘<‘ was the pucker. I used it voraciously, as if I’d found a new toy. And then the toy broke: I think I posted the ‘kiss’ on a site that auto-changed the keystrokes to a real emoji and up popped the heart. I was devastated. I tried to argue with myself that it could still be a heart. I could pick up the broken pucker, the full lips, put them back together and Voila! All better. Except it wasn’t. Image…
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‘I know you do not trust me right now, but I promise I am not your enemy’ (line from the film) I have the honor of engaging almost weekly with the social justice community as a partner with The Breakdown, a show that grew out of the project started by activist Shaun King. He hosts the show on Twitch and last week, part of the discussion was around this idea of cancel culture. Have you heard of it? The idea is that if someone says something I don’t like or disagree with, I can remove myself from the connection with…
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Why are some people able to just say what they feel with as much ease as others turn on and off a faucet? Why are others of us plagued by pre-planning the conversation, attempting to identify every potential outcome and response to the outcome and then outcome to the response to the outcome … ? There are times when all that pre-planning leads to an emotional Hulk-out. If you’ve never watched any movies with the Hulk or the old television show, you’ve missed out. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gSsrwZDA3Q&w=560&h=315] Needless to say, most of us don’t change like Bruce Banner, but maybe we…
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It’s just gone 4am and I’ve had about 12 ounces of red wine. Don’t judge. I woke up before 2:30, jolted from sleep by the pain in my arm. It’s not a heart attack or anything like that — I think I have a pinched nerve. However, I can’t rest, whatever it is. I can’t lay on my side. Either one. I am reminded of Christopher’s advice about ‘left sims’: when you lay on your left side to help indigestion. When he’d said it to me so many years ago, I had a lightbulb-flash of memory back to being in…
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Courtesy: asnoosylife Well, compassion fatigue is something different, sure, but it all boils down to being … fatigued. I mentioned in my post from yesterday that I’m either fighting a pinched nerve, carpal tunnel, or both; on top of that, I am just mentally and emotionally exhausted. Have been for longer than I care to try and figure. However, I’ve started taking better care of myself. For example, I’m typing this post from my new Kinesis Gaming Keyboard: it’s split in the middle and I got lifts for it, so my hands rest at a more natural angle. It will…
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Well hey! If you thought yourself a regular follower of this space, it is true … I am not a visibly regular writer. I stated that purposefully because I do post more frequently on a private page in this blog to a small group. I keep the pages private because the subject matter is specific to us. Yes it’s true: I belong to multiple packs. Know that I haven’t forgotten you though. Here’s the deal. I’m with you, fella … Meme courtesy http://www.scumbear.com/2013/06/office-bear-is-going-on-hibernation.html Truth is, I wasn’t in the best of spaces, even prior to this pandemic business. I decided…
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Yesterday, I shared an ‘air hug’ with a woman I didn’t know. Today, I found out that there are no identified cases of this latest virus in my county. Here’s the thing. After the world stopped on 11 September, people were a little kinder: folks let other folks go first at four-way stops. Young people helped older people across the street or carried their groceries or mowed their lawns or shoveled their snow. And here we are, in the midst of something, a nearly unknown ‘thing’. People are panicked, buying all sorts of weird things that won’t keep them healthy…