Friendship – Waiting on a Word

Help! I Lost My Mind and Forgot Where I Put It!

Today a couple of things happened that made me think I’m perhaps losing my mind.

First, I left the van windows open all night (yes, the van The Rock tried to fit his extra long baguette into). Admittedly, it’s not the first time that happened, but now JC can add “damp, mildewy, and dank” to the adjectives he uses to describe the Jalopy.

Okay, whatever. No big deal.

Next, I did some “writerly” things (a term panned by Angela, who hereby sneaks her way into another post) and decided to reward myself by watching the premiere of Empire, which aired earlier in the week. I turned it on and they started with “Previously on Empire” and I’m trying to play along but I have no idea what any of the clips mean.

Then it hits me. I NEVER WATCHED THE FINALE!

Wuh?

I know! I have a vague recollection of it not recording, or maybe we switched cable boxes and the DVR cleared itself and I never got to see it. Somewhere there’s a thought drifting around my head that I was supposed to watch it On Demand. Maybe I thought that happened, but it didn’t?

So of course I have no idea what’s happening. Lucious is in prison with Chris Rock, Marisa Tomei is a lesbian, Jamal is the head of the company and is a meanie. WHAT IS GOING ON?

I did enjoy the commercial with Taraji P. Henson, Kerry Washington, and Mary J. Blige making a mix tape on their computer (don’t ask me details- it’s all fuzzy). Why I was watching the commercials for a DVR recorded show is also of concern.

Next, I wrote a friend a birthday card and on the way to pick up JC, I slid it into the mail slot in our post box. I then get to JC’s school and park, and like all good parents who try their best to be anti-social, I reach for my phone.

Except it’s not there. Now I’m nervous because I don’t go anywhere without my phone and I was sure I had it in the van with me. I was convinced I mailed it with the birthday card. I debated with myself if this was possible, as I sat in the Jalopy and waited for JC.

I devised a master plan to stand next to the mailbox and use JC’s phone to call my phone, and see if the mailbox started ringing. I envisioned having to get through the automated Post Office phone system to speak to a human and ask whether there exists a lost and found. Surely, people mistakenly mail things all the time? Then I decided there simply was no way I could have mailed my iPhone. It’s a giant 6 Plus!

Could I have mailed my phone? Maybe! Ugh.

For the fifteen minutes I sat in the van alone, windows open enjoying the breeze, without my phone. Peaceful, yes, but I felt as if stranded on a deserted island, or that I time-traveled back to the 80’s. I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel anxiously and created rap lyrics- I’m at the school/and I’m cool/and you see me and you drool/lost my phone/ain’t at home/so now I’m rapping up a poem – Lyrical genius, I am not.

The phone was not in the mailbox-it was in my kitchen. I may watch Empire again. I don’t know. Maybe I need a vacation. If this post had a point, obviously I’ve lost track of that, too.

*Taps head with fists* “Work, brain, work!”

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!

Pour Some Sugar

On the way to work today, Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me” played on the radio. That song always jets me back to high school at warp speed.

I sang along in the van. “Love is like a bomb, baby, c’mon get it on. Living like a lover with a red owwf on.”

Wait. What exactly is a “red owwf”? I never knew that line. Not in 1989 and still not in 2014.

In fact, I distinctly remember a late-eighties conversation with a girl named Leanne. Leanne was a classmate and fellow Def Leppard fan (we’d been to numerous DL concerts), who (hide your eyes, Mom) cut school with me one day to go to the beach. We sat on the beach, tanning, talking, and discussing that line for a nice chunk of time.

“Maybe it’s ‘red outfit on’?”
“But there aren’t enough syllables. Maybe it’s not red at all?”
“Like ‘real loaf on'”
“Yeah!”
(Break into fit of giggles)

Every time I hear the song, I think of Leanne. Eventually, we accepted that a “red owwf” was either something British or we just didn’t have the ears to hear it right.

Today as I sipped my morning coffee at my desk, I googled the line. According to azlyrics, the lyric is “Living like a lover with a radar phone.”

Of course, this begs the question: What on God’s green earth is a “radar phone” AND WHERE CAN I GET ONE?

Back in the old days, I’d get so mad when albums didn’t include lyrics. I’d camp on the floor with my ear to the speaker and hit rewind, stop, play, rewind, stop, play over and over on my cassette tape deck to figure out one measly word from a song. Sounds silly, but sometimes one word can make or break a song, especially to an emotional teenager. (Ready for your irrelevantly relevant factoid of the day? Case in point: Modern English’s “I’ll Stop the World and Melt With You” (1983-ish). My friend and I insisted that somewhere in the song the chorus changed to “I’ll Stop the World and Melt For You,” which totally changes the entire song. Melting “with” someone is different than melting “for” someone, right? A quick azlyrics search doesn’t reveal any secret switchover from the nice-I-want-to-date-you-and-love-you “with” to the wow-he-wants-to-like-MELT-for her “for.”)

When I got my hands on Journey’s Escape album, circa 1981, I was thrilled to find the lyrics inside. I copied the lyrics to every song, by hand, onto looseleaf for a friend. He was so happy when I gave it to him, even though Journey’s songs were relatively clear and easy to decipher. After all, I’d saved him hours of strenuous listening to figure out the words. Now he could read along without lyrics stress.

Remember when Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” was a topic of conversation? “But the chair is not my size.” “NO! It’s but the kid is not my son!”

Or The Police? “We are Cheerios, in a cereal bowl.” “Duh! It’s SPIRITS. We are SPIRITS in the MATERIAL WORLD.” “But what does that mean?” “Who cares? It has a good beat and you can dance to it!”

During that “Billie Jean” era, a girl named Kathy lived a few houses down the street from me. Kathy knew everything. EVERYTHING about Adam Ant (Perhaps you remember “Goody Two Shoes”? “Don’t drink don’t smoke. What do you do?”). She loved him more than life itself, which even back in the 80’s was ridiculously weird. Whenever we had a question about anything Ant-related, someone would say, “Let’s go ask Kathy.” We’d trek to her house on our bikes and bang on her door, ask our question, maybe debate a little. Kathy was our Adam Ant Wiki. The best part would be when debating turned into either, “You’re a reject!” with stomping and yelling and riding away, or “Let’s play Payday,” and we’d move on to something else.

But rounding the corner to my point (it’s here somewhere), the mystery of the lyric is now over. I wonder if I’ll still automatically sing “red owwf on” when I hear the Def Leppard song or if I’ll convert to “radar phone.” (I really NEED one of those, people!)

I miss wondering about lyrics, and miss wondering in general. Something positive must have developed from all that wondering we did with our friends on the street. Today, all debatable questions are answered in light speed with a Google search. What do kids even talk about these days?

All these memories from a Def Leppard song on the way to work! Who knew it would turn into a writing prompt!?

Have a nice night. Thanks for reading. I’m going to go Google “radar phone” now.

The Apocalypse Library- Guest Post by Shaunna

A couple of weeks ago, author Chuck Wendig posted his Friday writing challenge called “Roll for Your Title.” I tried to do it and failed miserably (remember the “Remote Control Hive Mind”? Ugh.) However, my friend Shaunna gave it a shot, just for fun. She doesn’t have a blog and I love her story so I’m posting it here for you to enjoy! Leave her comments! She needs encouragement (I’m trying to convince her to start a blog of her own). Now I present…

The Apocalypse Library

A lone sleeping law student, Wendy, lifted her head from her arms and squinted toward the purple light blazing through the library windows. The dark brown hulk of the Old Caragut extension bridge was barely visible through the water streaming down the window pane.

Despite the imposing light, her eyes widened as her mentor, Professor Demsey, suddenly sat opposite her. His face, like the window behind him, seemed to be covered in grave, cascad- ing tears, though his expression was strangely resigned.

“Wendy, listen closely to me.” His voice, barely an audible whisper, beckoned Wendy to lean closer. “On the second floor, there is a book entitled, Historical Casenotes in Natural Law. I need you to bring it here quickly.”

“Historical Casenotes in Natural Law,” she repeated to herself as she walked to the first floor elevator. The light did not come on when she pressed the button, so she turned to the spiral staircase a few feet away. Halfway up the staircase, she felt the stairs shudder in response to a loud rumbling outside. She could see her table beyond the quivering abandoned stacks. The professor was gone.

Curious about the secretive urgency, Wendy walked halfway to the dark circulation desk be- fore noticing the “CLOSED” sign. Figures. She changed direction, passing the lifeless com- puter terminals, toward the card catalog room with its dust and neglected creaky door.

In the titles catalog, a carefully hand-printed manila card, probably written at the dawn of time, she thought rolling her eyes, pointed her toward the last row of stacks. As she turned the last corner, she glanced out the window. She froze.

The ever hopeful Old Caragut bridge was no longer permanently raised for boat traffic long extinct. Its iron trusses, barely exposed above the frothing river were torn and twisted like fingers clawing accusingly up out of the churning water toward an unnatural yellowish-pur- ple sky.

Blinking away tears, she hefted the volume, hugging it into her chest. Back at the table, Wendy’s heart skipped a beat as the professor suddenly appeared again across from her.

“Turn to the center binding of the book. You’ll have to find it from the top edge,” he directed. She looked at the top of the binding. By counting each page grouping methodically from the outside in, she found the place where the page groupings met in the middle. “Got it?” He whispered. She nodded. He continued talking, but a metallic, grinding roar outside over- came the professor’s already quiet voice.

“What?” Wendy’s heart pounded in her ears along with the tumult, heat began rising inside her. She strained to read his lips as they continued moving without sound.

“Pull the binding string out?” Wendy called over the noise to make sure she’d understood. Break the book? she thought incredulously. A crackling sound split the already thunderous air as the windows behind the professor began to crack and bow.

The floor beneath her lifted and lurched. Wendy’s chair toppled landing her butt first on the unsteady floor with the open book hugged tightly to her. The professor motioned for her to follow him toward the emergency stairwell. To her annoyance, he made no effort to help her up. “So much for chivalry,” she muttered, scurrying after him.

Inside the stairwell, the tremors ceased and the noise was muffled. In the dim red glow of emergency lighting, she followed him up and up always half a flight behind. She entered the landing outside the sixth floor, barely able to keep her breath.

“Stop!” she panted, arriving at the stairs just below him. “Where are we going?”

“Can you hear me better in here?” His ghostly whisper came more clearly now, but still just audible. She nodded. “Nice to know I designed something right.” he said to himself, taking a satisfied look at the steady stairwell protecting them.

Seeing the seventh floor exit sign through his left temple, she realized why he hadn’t helped her up from the floor. She reached a trembling hand slowly through his transparent face.

“Wendy, you are the last person left of my world and the first, the creator, of yours. I’m almost gone,” he gestured to his immaterial self. The dim lights flickered. She was still clutching the book. Is this really the last thing left from the world? Am I?

“You don’t have to understand it right this second,” his fading voice continued. “If I had more time, we could study the world’s repetitive rebirth together.” He sighed wistfully. “It’s all in the book you are holding. For now, just believe that it’s possible.”

Under his encouraging eyes, she sat on the stair, found the spot again, and bent the pages back as far as they could go. She exhaled and zipped out the thin gold string. “Now what?”

“Press the binding open,” he coaxed. Inside, she saw a small, but sturdy pebble, shimmery and glowing.

The red emergency light in the hall died, bathing them in darkness, except for an increasing glow from the tiny orb before them. A peaceful stillness filled the air.

“Hold the rock and imagine your world. The historical casenotes will guide you. First, read them all to understand how the natural laws apply. Reread them until you are inspired, ready to build. And, Wendy?” She looked up at his reassuring smile. “Make it exquisite.”

The tiny light illuminated the book’s Table of Contents. She saw thousands of names. First, Henrich Tongin – refraction, reflection, and further down, Spero Wondernsonn – unity, music. Name after name were each followed by a one or two word summary of their achievements.

The sphere’s light continued to slowly expand, as parts of Professor Demsey diminished and disappeared. When the final stitch of her mentor had vanished, Wendy watched his legacy appear. The binding resealed and the words describing his casenote contents boldly wrote themselves across the page: Reginald Demsey – industry, innovation.

She pondered – what two words would follow her name? Resolutely, she turned to page one and began.

Thanks for reading! Let us know what you think! If you have something you’d like me to post, email it to me (waitingonaword@gmail.com) and I’ll check it out. It’s NaNo month so Guest Posts are welcome!

Daily Prompt- Trick or Treat, and Halloween “Hi”

Today’s Daily Prompt from The Daily Post reads:

If bloggers had their own Halloween and could go from blog to blog collecting “treats,” what would your blog hand out?

You can see the prompt and other answers here.

After some careful thought, I decided that I would hand out coffee. You’d totally come visit if I left the porch light on and handed out coffee, right? Why coffee? Well, things are going to start getting crazy for a lot of us and I think we’ll all need a caffeine jolt. Here’s why:

As much as we all like to believe that the holiday season starts with Black Friday and Thanksgiving, we all know that actually it starts the day after Halloween. The stores will start putting out Christmas decorations and playing holiday tunes and we’ll all start planning for Santa and dusting off shelves on which to sit that stupid Elf. With this extended holiday season comes stress and fatigue. Wouldn’t a cup of coffee be nice?
November is National Novel Writing Month! Many of us will be barfing out 50,000 words in the 30-day month. Caffeine is a necessity! Especially if you are kicking off at midnight tonight. Good luck to all the participants. (Just hours away and I’m still not sure if I can swing it, although I really want to. I’ll let you know what I decide.)
If you’re out visiting all these blogs collecting “treats,” you’ll be tired and cranky and enjoying a steamy, hot cup of joe may help. You’ll feel like the energizer bunny as you go blog to blog. The more blogs you can cover, the more treats you’ll get. Drink up and hopalong!

So yes. Coffee. You’re welcome!

Here, we’ve established our own Halloween tradition of hosting my parents and whichever friends decide to show. Tonight we ordered pizza and Joe grilled hamburgers and hot dogs (the weather was quite mild- in the 60’s). My neighborhood is perfect for trick-or-treating so people come from other neighborhoods to walk our streets. Needless to say, we stock up with a lot of candy. My boys dressed up as army men, in camo and helmets. My older son was thrilled that I bought him an actual (empty) grenade from the Army/Navy store. My little one with autism had difficulty with boundaries– he won’t say “trick or treat” but tends to grab for handfuls of candy and likes to walk into people’s houses, but we survived. Even Kiri Kai, our puppy, handled the craziness well. So proud of all of them!

photo-88 — Kiri Kai (6 months old). I still find it hard to get a decent picture of her.

Back at home, Joe carved our pumpkin and JC collected the seeds. M enjoyed squishing the pumpkin gook– a nice sensory activity for him (albeit, messy). Afterwards I gave the boys a much needed bath, put them to bed, and now here I am. I thought about working, thought about writing, thought about reading, but instead indulged in a few minutes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. I’m not sure why I picked that show except that I was too lazy to fire up Netflix and there wasn’t much on television that interested me. In the show, Kim was concerned about the paparazzi, especially in light of her pregnancy. The show did make them seem pretty aggressive in their pursuit of the very pregnant Kim, but I couldn’t muster up much pity.

Now I’ve moved onto Scandal and I’m typing this during commercials. As Fitz and Jake play basketball, I’m wondering how the President has so much free time. Phoebe from Friends, Lisa Kudrow, plays a Sarah Palin-type Congresswoman from Montana who wants to run for president. It’s nice to see Pheebs working in such a great role on such an awesome show.

Speaking of Presidents, I wonder if President Obama is flipping out over the IT problems with his health care website. What a bummer for him! Welcome to our world, Barry! Tech problems surely can ruin a day, right fellow working class drones?

So my mind wanders as it relaxes and lets the day go. As I sit here and think and write this post, I feel oddly at peace. All in all, I’ve had a pretty nice Halloween. I hope you all did too.

Have a nice night!

Apologies, Random Comments, and a Shout Out to Sweetness

Hello, WordPress World!

Just a quick post with some random thoughts to share.

First, apologies for writing that dreadful (yet FICTIONAL people!) parenting post and then dropping you all like a hot potato! You may have been Waiting on a Word, but we’re Waiting on a Baby (my sister-in-law was due last Saturday and still we wait), and were Waiting on a Bunch of Television Shows!

(1) Television: For those who haven’t watched Breaking Bad yet, skip this paragraph. Spoiler Alert! Okay? THANK YOU to Breaking Bad for keeping Jesse Pinkman alive and kicking! And for making an excellent series finale that tied up all loose ends and gave us closure. Kudos! Now onto The Walking Dead in a couple of weeks.

Also, I’ve been Netflix binge watching Weeds and have added Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) to my “favorite female characters ever” list. If you can open your mind a bit to let in a suburban widow who deals pot to support her kids and her McMansion lifestyle, and you can let go of your ideas on good parenting for the sake of entertainment, you’ll love Weeds. Nancy’s a smart, honest, complex character who manages to survive and “succeed” all while maintaining her sex appeal and femininity. Kevin Nealon and Elizabeth Perkins also star, playing supporting quirky characters. The episodes are only twenty-something minutes and they fly by, so give it a try if you’re looking for something fun and smart.

(2) When Bloggers Meet: This past weekend I met up with The Underground Writer in NYC for a playdate of sorts! TUW and I hooked up through blogging and started emailing each other a while back and became friends, and finally met in person under the clock in Grand Central Station. We ate lunch (Guess how much for our cheeseburgers and fries? Answers below…) and walked Central Park all the way up to the Met. We practically sprinted through the Met (it’s huge and luckily neither of us are the read-all-the-descriptions type of museum-goers) and then headed back home. Turns out TUW is just as sweet in person as she is on her blog and her emails. We’re planning another outing in spring. Yay!

(3) Writing/Blogging Stuff: Again, apologies that I’ve been off the grid. I haven’t been writing my own posts or keeping up with yours. I think I’m a couple of weeks behind on reading your posts. Besides my television-watching skills (balancing the remote on the armrest, training the dog to pee during commercials, etc.) I’ve been reading and writing outside of the WordPress world. I’m thinking of starting a NaNoWriMo project in November. Anyone else giving this a shot? Anyone? Anyone? I linked you to the Wikipedia page for the challenge because their site is under maintenance at this moment (www.nanowrimo.org). The Challenge: 50,000 words in one month. Yes, it may be impossible, but the world won’t end if I can’t meet the challenge. I just thought it would be fun to try.

Also, for those of you keeping score, I’m thinking of changing my idea for a weekly Magnificent Made Up Man of Monday post to a Magnificient Made-Up Man of the Month post. Once a week is way too ambitious for me. As promised, Lloyd Dobbler will be Mr. October. I thought I’d toss around the idea of maybe soliciting guest posts for Men of the Month from y’all? Anyone have a Magnificent Made Up Man they love and want to write about for the month of November who would like to post here? Email me or leave me a comment!

Finally, as to blogging stuff, I’ll be featuring a guest post from Kate over at Did That Just Happen this week. Her post is adorable, as is she, and after I confirm the details with her (I’m serious when I say I’ve been off the grid) I can’t wait to post it for you! I didn’t want it to be my first post after my hiatus though, so I thought I’d bore you with this dribble drabble before featuring her guest post. Keep a eye out!

(4) 50 Shades of Wuhhh???: Now that the 50 Shades of Grey (E.L. James) movie is cast I thought I’d go back and read the first book again and post on it. MISTAKE. I’ll post more on this topic soon.

(5) That Shout Out to Sweetness I mentioned: Everyone probably knows by now that one of my favorite bloggers is Sweetness over at Chronicles of a Public Transit User. As I mentioned above, I spent a great deal of time this past weekend on public transit and took some pictures with her in mind. Of course, my pics were with my crappy ass iPhone 4, while the pictures on her site are professional quality, but I thought I’d share nonetheless.

Enjoy!

Double Decker NJ Transit Train (I opted for the top level)

Helpful tips scrolled during the ride. — Helpful tips scrolled during the ride…

... okay! Thanks for that tip! — … okay! Thanks for that tip!

Brooklyn Diner (random passerby in front)

Guess how much the burgers were? (Jeopardy Tune plays)... Answer: "What is $18.95-- each!" Welcome to NYC! — Guess how much the burgers were? (Jeopardy Tune plays)… Answer: “What is $18.95– each!” Welcome to NYC! It was really good though.

Pictures in Central Park, NYC:

The Met (that may or may not be a cameo by TUW!)

Thanks for reading and have a nice night!

Rejected but Okay

I previously shared that Angela and I teamed up and co-wrote and submitted a screenplay to a screenplay writing competition associated with a major film festival.

Well, today we got our rejection letter. It was very nice and polite–thanking and commending us and explaining that over 8,000 screenplays were submitted and the decision was difficult, etc., etc.

Before you get all teary eyed, you should know this: We were kind of happy to get our rejection letter. Yes–happy! Crazy right? Well, for one thing, we were expecting it. Of course you hope that you’ll get that call telling you how brilliant you are, but in reality we knew our screenplay needed a few edits when we submitted it.

More importantly though, we were happy because our letter was our first rejection letter, and to us, that symbolized something big. We WROTE something that we FINISHED which was LOOKED AT by someone in the industry and was actually READ and REJECTED! “Wow,” we said. “We rock!”

After all, don’t most success stories start off with, “Despite receiving a ton of rejection letters,” dot dot dot? Even Stephen King in his book On Writing tells of his early rejections. He started writing and submitting articles to magazines as a young boy. When he received his first rejection slip, he hung it on the wall. Mr. King shares: “By the time I was fourteen . . . the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing.”

I think Angela and I should nail up our first rejection letter because that letter is proof. It’s proof that we are writers. It’s proof that we made the effort and took the time to do something that we wanted to do and weren’t afraid of failing. It’s proof we are brave. It’s proof that we work well together and make a great team. It’s proof of our friendship and our support of one another. It’s proof that even though we walk to our day job in crappy Trenton, New Jersey under the hanging live wires and downed traffic lights, we dream big.

In writing and in life, rejection means something huge– it means that you pushed aside your fears and took action and risked failure and vulnerability.

I know for a fact that some of you reading this post have been rejected– by men, by women, by publishers, by prospective employers. It sucks, because you made an effort and believed in something. You believed that your love could outlast. You believed that your novel could be enjoyed by the world. You believed that you’d be perfect for that job. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. What is important is that you gave it a try. Your chances of it working out would have been a big fat zero without the try. Giving it a shot, taking the risk, doing the work, taking the journey is what life is about.

So instead of crying over rejection, tack those rejections onto your walls of life with a giant metal spike and display them with pride. These rejections are your proof that you took a forward step. You followed your heart. You wrote a novel or applied for a dream job. You loved someone. What a wonderful thing to have done!

Keep going and fighting and learning and loving and believing. No matter your journey, if rejection happens to you, stare it in the eye, give it the finger, hit the “reset” button, and try again because someday you just might succeed. And imagine what a trip that would be!

Have a nice night and thanks for reading 🙂

Weekend Chatter

Happy Sunday Everyone!

I type this post while watching the second quarter of the Cowboys-Giants game (DVR’ing Breaking Bad– decisions, decisions). I love watching a good football game, especially when it’s not a Jets game. My poor husband, a lifelong Jets fan, suffers season after season watching the Jets. Sometimes there’s cursing and yelling involved. Even though the Jets won today, we know better than to get our hopes up. Anyway, football is so much more fun when your team isn’t playing.

Ouch! Romo just went down and is being helped off the field, meanwhile, the camera shows the Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, sitting next to New Jersey’s very own Chris Christie. New Jersey is everywhere, people! But I digress . . .

This weekend, a few fun things happened (besides our first NFL Sunday and a Jets win). Fun Thing Number One is that yesterday an idea I submitted to The Daily Post for a Daily Prompt was used! The prompt was to name a luxury you can’t live without. You can see the post here. I was thinking about my cleaning lady when I came up with the idea. I also thought about Spaceballs when Princess Vespa whips out her hair dryer and says, “It’s my Industrial Strength Hair Dryer, and I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT!” In response to the Prompt people wrote lovely thoughts. Some luxuries mentioned were coffee, the internet, families, and look at these desserts from Barcelona that my Blog Sister, the Public Transit User, featured. Wowzers.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to post on the prompt because Fun Thing Number Two happened . . . I went to a PAR-TAY– an outdoor all-out bash at a barn on a country club. The Birthday Barn Party featured country music (ugh), smoked meats, and a mechanical bull. I borrowed boots and a hat from my mom, was schooled in the rules of bull riding by my father (something about having to hang on for 8 seconds), and kissed the kids and husband goodbye. The best part of party night was that my husband insisted I couldn’t drive my disgusting, beat up minivan to a country club to be valet parked, so I drove our “fancy” car– a Hyundai Sonata. Okay, I can hear your giggles. But it IS a top of the line Sonata, so there! Here are some pics:

My foot driving the “fancy car” in a cowboy boot!

My stuff for the party- a cowboy hat, a gift bag containing a bottle of champagne, my purse (mostly to carry my lipstick), and flats for when my boots started to annoy me.

Driving the Hyundai! I plugged in my phone and shuffled and look what came on!? Another poser country girl! (Just kidding, Taylor. I love you.)

I have to admit that I didn’t ride the bull and left before the cake, but seeing my friend celebrate her birthday and tripping down memory lane made for a lovely night.

This morning I partook in Fun Thing Number Three. Yoga. But during this yoga class, Stretchy Woman (my beloved teacher) decided we would do yoga up against the wall. “Wall Yoga,” she called it. Practicing in this way is quite enlightening in that you feel your alignment and different angles of your body when certain parts of it are pressed against the flat wall, and you get to do fun things like hold yourself upside down and walk your legs up the wall and really feel your shoulders and arms working to hold you up. It was interesting to try.

Then during the afternoon I accomplished a Not-So-Fun-Thing. The Great Toy Purge Project of 2013. I braved the basement mess of ten years of toys and I sorted and separated and packed and bagged old toys. The project took hours and resulted in five large black garbage bags, a ton of things to donate, and peace of mind. However, it’s still a mess down there. I have a couple of random piles that I’m not sure how to deal with. I took some pics for you though (the fun never ends here at WOAW!):

Garbage bags. Getting rid of the train table. Thank God for Hefty!

Packed like items into gallon ziplock bags to donate.

And still have to figure out the stuffed animals . . .

That’s what I did this weekend, and here it is late Sunday night and tomorrow is another Monday. I’m hoping tomorrow will be my Magnificent Made-Up Men of Monday inaugural post (featuring Lloyd Dobler, as promised). I’ll try.

Have a nice night!

A Quick Post on the Daily Prompt

The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt today is “Smell You Later.” You can see the post here. The prompt is:

Humans have very strong scent memory. Tell us about a smell that transports you.

This one came to me easily. The smell of Biolage shampoo transports me to the summer of 1990.

I didn’t realize that I used this shampoo for that entire summer until a few years after I stopped using it. When I went back to it again I was immediately transported to that summer.

What a great summer!

I’d just finished freshman year of college and got a job teaching dance at the summer camp run by the city where I grew up. Every morning, back when I thought that 8 a.m. was early, I rode the bus with the day campers out to the “wilderness” of New Jersey. I remember sunshine and kids and dancing. I remember I taught the campers a dance to a song called “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid even though they wanted to dance to New Kids on the Block. I had a summer fling with a cute boy counselor. I did crafts and ate crappy camp hot dogs and escorted kids to the nurse’s cabin.

I remember riding the bus all the way back to the city in the afternoon with the day campers, just to hop in my car and drive the hour back to the camp to hang out with the sleepaway counselors. I’d get back home just in time to get a couple of hours of sleep, before getting on the bus again in the morning to go back to camp. It was Kid Fun all day and Counselor Fun at night.

I remember the afternoon when the count on the homeward-bound bus was short a kid and we scoured the camp like crazy people looking for him. The lifeguard had a foot in the gross lagoon thinking the kid had fallen in and drowned. When we found the kid an hour later hiding under the bus seats, we wanted to kill him ourselves! The next day, the counselors enlisted the help of the campers to chase the prankster kid around the camp and bombard him with water balloons.

The entire summer played out like a fun movie, and one sniff of Biolage brings me right back.

I hold that summer in my heart as one of my favorites, I think because it was the last time I had a job that didn’t feel like “work.” When I taught dance during high school, I never thought of it as “work.” It was more like getting paid for doing something I loved. That camp summer was the last time I taught dance. My dance career was coming to a natural ending– I wasn’t going pro and wasn’t pursuing teaching. Not only was I doing something I loved that summer, but I was doing it in the sunshine, with summer friends and fun kids in a beautiful setting.

During that summer I was young, but responsibly irresponsible. My biggest obstacle was waking up “early” to get to the bus on time for the day campers. Don’t get me wrong– my twenties, like everyone else’s, were full of drama. I have plenty of memories that I would never want to go back to– those cringeworthy moments that now, in my 40’s, I cut myself some slack and chalk up to “figuring it all out.” But not that camp summer. That summer was perfect.

So now when I smell that classic Biolage shampoo smell, I transport right back to camp. I think of dance, and The Little Mermaid. I think of sun, trees, laughter, kids, fun, dirt, lakes. Images flip through my mind of a lovely, carefree summer that I hope every twenty-something gets to experience in their life.

Is there a summer that you remember as the last great “hurrah” of your youth?

Thanks for reading and have a nice night.

What’s Up, Blogtropolis??!!!

HI EVERYONE!

I’ve missed being here on WordPress! In fact, I feel like everything has changed here– there must have been some sort of update because my “Add New Post” screen that I’m looking at as I type this looks so faaannnncy schmancy! Different font, updated look. It’s so pretty and easy on the eyes. Kudos, WordPress!

Can you tell I’m excited? I thought I’d wow you all with some deep thoughts here today, but frankly, I don’t have a deep thought in my head right now. But I do have some shallow thoughts that I am willing to share.

How’s your summer going? Mine is chugging along at a steady pace. M. attends school in the summer (which he’s happy about), JC spends his days at camp. My husband is busy training Kiri Kai Kai Princess Baby (formerly Kiri Madonna), reading one of my favorite books, The Passage, by Justin Cronin, and crushing candy (he’s on level 100 but is stuck on some “quests.” I have no idea what that means, but it keeps him busy while I blog so I neither ask nor complain).

Me? I’m stuck at work, freezing my butt off in July and wrapping myself in my Woobie. Other than that, here’s what’s on my mind:

This dog, Kiri– Gosh she’s cute! But she’s a puppy which isn’t easy. Now that she’s been around for a couple weeks we are finding that she has two major spurts of energy where we seriously wonder if she’s nuts– once in the morning (when we are busy getting everyone ready and out the door), and once at night (when we are trying to calm the kids to go to bed)– so THAT’S really convenient. Although she weighs in around 11 pounds, she thinks she’s about 30 pounds the way she harasses the other neighborhood dogs. She’s dominated “George” and “Winston.” Admittedly, “Sonny” kicked her butt. At Puppy Kindergarten she’s CLEARLY the smartest and cutest puppy. She deserves her own post someday, so I’ll just put some pics here and move on (it’s difficult for an amateur photographer to take a good iPhone picture of a black puppy, by the way) . .

This blogger, Megan– If you may recall, through blogging I made a friend, Megan (The Underground Writer). Well guess what? She was Freshly Pressed this week! You can see her FP’d post titled “For a Good Time Call” here. Unlike here at WOAW where I’m all “blah blah blah” and “yadda yadda yadda,” barfing out whatever is on my mind as I think it, Megan is a real writer. An excellent writer. She would never write “blah blah blah” in her post like I just did. She plans her posts and relays stories from her life beautifully and humorously and I’m so happy that WordPress found and acknowledged her. She could change her site name to The Awesomely Wonderful Classy Writer and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

This fortune, wtf– I think I may be dumb. I don’t get it. I even tried adding the “in bed” to the end of the sentence and got nothing. Any philosophers out there who can explain this to me? Maybe I’m too old or cynical or closed-minded for fortune cookies? Maybe I really am shallow– too shallow to figure this one out? Maybe I have brain freeze from overexposure to air conditioning? Maybe I should have ordered the Chicken and Broccoli, or opted for Mexican instead?

Help me see the light.

photo-55 — “Freed from desire, then you can see the hidden mystery.”

This website, Thought Catalog– Speaking of getting old and cynical, anyone follow Thought Catalog? It’s this excellent website/blog/Facebook thing, clearly targeting twenty-somethings, that always provides interesting posts. You can link over here if you want to check it out.

Now I’ve been a follower of Thought Catalog for quite some time. After months of perusing my Reader and getting lost in Thought Catalog posts, I decided to edit my Reader so that I would receive instant notifications of new posts to my email.

This is the result:

Now don’t get me wrong- I’ve learned a ton of stuff about nothing relevant to my life: sex and the 20-something single girl, transvestites, how to navigate online dating, how to tell if your boyfriend is cheating, etc. etc. But I find the site HIGHLY addictive and since the people who run the site post about a gazillion posts a day, let’s just say I’m distracted.*

See how the view of the titles in the inbox entice you enough to want to click and read more? On the iPhone 4 view, I see this: “12 Things Every Wo . . .” Of COURSE I’m going to have to click on that. Twelve things, what? That Every Woman Wants? TELL ME. What about: “6 Reasons Why Hollywoo . . .” What ARE the Reasons for Holly-woo doing anything? I NEED to know.

Thought Catalog is killing me. Damn them for being so great! After I publish this post, I’m changing them back to “NEVER notify me of new posts by email” status. Hopefully then I’ll be able to get some work done :).

*In Thought Catalog’s defense, I’m easily distracted. If it weren’t TC, it would be some other website, food, Pandora, the lost person wandering the hallway, whatever.

This cupcake, Gluten Free– the picture speaks a thousand words (and signifies a thousand calories) . . . no need to elaborate except to say it was totally worth it . . .

photo-56 — Gluten Free Cupcake from SadieCakes

This show, House of Cards– I am LOVING House of Cards. A Netflix Original Series, House of Cards follows the life of Francis Underwood, the Majority Whip of Congress, played by the amazing Kevin Spacey. He’s horrible and awesome at the same time. Robin Wright as his wife, Claire, is PERFECT. One of my favorite episodes is when Francis has to deal with his hometown in South Carolina while at the same time argue about a major bill in Washington. The contrast between the small town issue and the big national issue is fun and entertaining and interesting. You’ll LOVE this show and fly through the 13-episode series. You’ll also love Robin Wright’s super cool haircut . . .

The Underwoods- Screwing with Washington in style.

This song, Get Lucky– by Daft Punk Feat. Pharrell Williams. It’s so catchy and fun and I can’t sit still through it . . . This song makes me wish I could go clubbing and drink sea breezes and get tipsy and dance to it.

photo-5 — Do y’all use Shazam? Bought this one the first time I tagged it.

This blog, How I missed it! So that’s what I’ve been doing this summer– kids, working, puppies, cupcakes, Netflix, music. I’ve also been writing, but that’s for another post. This one is already over a thousand words and I know you have other things to do.

I hope your summer is going great! Thanks for reading.

Have a nice night!

(Photo of House of Cards: http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/01/29/hoc-ph-22120r-babd299b44de4b096fc2d563c31bb2398737e5d5-s6-c30.jpg)

What Inspires You?

Inspiration is defined as “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.”

I’ve read and re-read that definition about ten times while staring at the blinking cursor here and it wasn’t until the tenth time that I realized how incredible it is to be inspired. That something, someone, can stimulate your mind so much as to make you act or create. It’s really the act of being touched. Not physically touched (although maybe that can be inspiring) but that something can crawl inside your skin, into your heart, into your soul, and motivate you to “do” or “feel.” In the simplest terms, inspiration is a blessing. Can you imagine a life without it?

I’ve been thinking about what inspires me. It’s tough to narrow down the concept of inspiration into words in a blog post, but I’ve come up with the following:

People inspire me. People present daily in my life, like my husband who supports me and my friends who encourage me, and people I don’t know personally but who motivate me by their actions or words. Mostly, my kids inspire me to be a better person and to try to live my life unselfishly, as An Example. I know I hold the keys to the doors they will choose, and I want them to win at life. Pick the right doors. And I realize how simple it would be for me to screw them up– happens all the time with parents and kids. I don’t want to mess them up and send them through the wrong doors for the wrong reasons. So my kids inspire me to try to be better– not for me, but for them. Inspiration is love.

Music inspires me. Sometimes a song flows through my ears straight to my heart. When using words to describe certain songs or artists that inspire me, I’ve said, “I hear it and I feel it on the inside.” Not very eloquent, but it’s the simplest way for me to put words to the feeling. Some songs give me chills. Some make me angry. Some take me back to a specific point in time that I remember so clearly. Some grab me so hard that I ache. Do you know a song that actually makes you feel thankful that you have it in your mind, that you’ve experienced it and can pull it up in a moment when you need it? Sounds dramatic, I know. Inspiration is dramatic.

Nature inspires me. I’m not an outdoorsy kind of gal, but sometimes I see things in nature that are so perfect, so beautiful and simple, that I can’t even believe it. A fully bloomed rose. The bluest sky. The bright green grass. Corny, I know, but amazing nonetheless. JC is a big fan of animals and nature. He’s taught me about jellyfish and scorpions, rhinos and dinosaurs and let me tell you, they are all pretty cool. The smallest flower to the biggest mountain, ants to elephants, if you think about it, the world and how it works is pretty damn miraculous. Ever see the Grand Canyon? After spending Sunday after Sunday in church, praying mostly for the Mass to be over to get to the donuts in the basement, it wasn’t until I saw the Grand Canyon that I actually felt spiritual. It’s probably the most awe-inspiring thing I’ve ever seen. Inspiration is the world around us.

Inspiration also comes in the form of your words, whether I talk to you in person, on email, or read your blog posts. So Thank You!

On that note, I’m proud to accept the Very Inspirational Blogger Award from sweetness over at Chronicles of a Public Transit User; Dylan at Eyes Through the Looking Glass; S.L. at The Urge to Write; and Lois & Clark over at Clark Kent.

If you ever need a dose of inspiration, hit up these blogs: Sweetness at PTU for inspiration to save money for a car and avoid public transit at all costs (!) (click here for the post on the tossed cookies and importance of knowing the difference between red and green lights); Dylan for inspiration on living the best life you can despite any challenges you may face (click here for his very different take on inspiration); S.L. for inspiration on writing, music, and fanfiction and just plain fun (Do guys in eyeliner inspire you? Check out this post for S.L.’s Guys Who Can Pull Off Guyliner list) and Clark for inspiration on finding your “twin flame” (“Huh?” you ask. Click here to read more). Thank you for the nomination!

The Rules for the Award*:

(1) Display the Award Logo. (Check!)

(2) Link back to your nominators. (Check!)

(3) Nominate 15 Inspiring Bloggers. (See below!)

(4) Notify them of their nominations. (Will do!)

*It seems the rules vary on this one. I’m taking the simple route, but some routes also require a seven-things-about-you list.

Here are my nominees:

Factory Maid – She’s making major changes in her life including moving to Chicago (on Monday!) and reentering the dating scene. Besides posts about her life, her friends, and her work, Factory Maid does this super cool thing where she finds pictures and comes up with imaginative, perfectly written stories based on the picture and shares them on her blog. Here’s one. I love seeing her posts pop up in my inbox!

Especially Made– A mother and writer, she takes her inspiration from her religion. She always takes the time to read and comment on my posts and give careful attention to her readers on her blog. As a parent and a Christian she’s the embodiment of “inspiration.”

Dana, who’s Swimming in the Shucking Tub– Many of us know Dana only in relation to David over at Sounds Like Orange, but Dana is an inspiring blogger in her own right. One of the most beautiful writers in Blogtropolis (see this post), Dana’s fearlessness makes me want to be a better writer. Besides sharing her stories, she also designs amazing jewelry. She deserves an audience so give her a visit!

Crissi Langwell– A published author (I recently downloaded her book, A Symphony of Cicadas onto my Kindle), Crissi’s blog seeks to inspire the writer in all of us. I anxiously await her honest posts on the writing life and her journey as an author.

Nicole at mommy&everything– Her kids inspire her, but she’s not afraid to share when they drive her nuts either. She inspires me in real life too, and I’m lucky to have her as a friend and pseudo-sister. Here’s an example of her Random Monday Thoughts feature, which I love.

cvheerden at Bridging Worlds– CVH’s blog is part travel blog, part politics, all inspiration. She’s been everywhere and has dedicated her life to making a difference. Her “About” page (here) lists the places she’s been and links to her posts on everything from education to her bucket list to pastoring.

Angela at Telling New Stories– Angela’s another real life friend; in fact, she inspired me to actually sit down and start writing (I posted about it here). She’s blogging and sharing about movies, life, hope and dreams. She’s my writing inspiration, unofficial therapist, and soul sister.

Chronicles of John Shue– John has been a blogging inspiration to me, sharing all aspects of his life including his work, his dating experiences, his love for his father, and his connection with God. When he disappeared from the blogging world for a bit, I actually emailed him looking for him! I’m glad to see that he’s back and hope you check him out.

The Underground Writer– Megan takes the simple happenings in life and turns them into humorous posts that make me giggle and say, “YEAH! I get that!” Here’s a cute post with her thoughts on why we take Mother’s Day more seriously than Father’s Day. She’s also a new friend who inspires me as a parent and a writer and I’m excited to finally meet her in the Big Apple this fall- yay!

The Howling Mad Cat– Did you ever read a blog by a cat? HMC shares quick witty posts about the feline way of life. Here’s a post by HMC about Cat Yoga. Yes. A cat who blogs.

Jack Flacco– Jack inspires me every Wednesday with his Women Who Wow Wednesday feature (this past week he featured the women of “The Incredibles” which was so awesome!), and because he is a published writer with his book, Ranger Martin and the Zombie Apocalypse, ready for release in October. If you like zombies, Canada, Women Who Wow, and excellent writing, check him out!

Ritu at Things to Rave About– Ritu’s blog includes travel, photography, and inspiration. Check out her post of inspirational quotes for June here. She’s been hanging around WOAW from the early days here, and I appreciate the support she has given me and the inspiration she’s provided on her lovely blog.

Poetlandia– Another Canadian, Poetlandia writes in search of happiness and shares her many life experiences. Poetry is Poetlandia’s passion. I love this list of “77 Things” about Poetlandia, which itself reads like a poem! (That’s a lot of “P”‘s!).

Daydreams from the Spectrum– Jenny shares her life raising an autistic child and deserves the label “inspiring” because she’s completely honest about it all– the good and the difficult. I love this post about her struggles as a parent of a special needs child.

Ling Lee, The Lost Girl– A fledgling writer, Ling admits that she’s “fighting to get her spirit back.” She needs our support, Blogtropolis, and truly appreciates comments and reads of her writing extracts. Give her a look!

Whew! And that’s it! Fifteen out of the many of you who inspire me daily. Thanks for reading and thanks again for the nomination!

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