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Words, pictures, blogging, the hats we wear and the stories we tell…
I’ve been thinking…
Hey it has to happen every once in a while!
Seriously, I’ve been having this kind of firestorm going on in the back of my head when I eat, watch TV, fiddle on the net, exercise, plan for my return to the world of dance, sleep, tinkle…
Uhmmm was that TMI? It has been going on for about two or three weeks now and it came to a head (kinda sorta) in yesterday’s blog post.
There is lots of debris flying around in that thought typhoon: stress about my finances, the challenges that lie ahead, the reality that the road is going to be tough, that my life is about to change yet again, uncertainty, angst. Now toss in a new found political awareness and activism, frustration that the system, the environment, and so many factors seems rigged against people trying to better themselves.
A huge chunk of that inner thought tornado is the difficulty in conveying why when “I went to the grocery store and to my storage unit today” should be received by the listener with the same respect as someone saying “I just ran a marathon in record time.” — more on that in a later post. For now, please accept it as one tiny line of paint to be included in a much larger painting. A thread in a larger tapestry.
However, there is a center. A “core” to that whirling maelstrom inside my brain.
In every case, somehow it all comes back around to WORDS!.
And how inadequate they sometimes are. How easily they can be misunderstood and the meaning behind the words lost when they come from me to another person.
Words and the inadequacy of “words.” How they can either soar and convey with perfect clarity emotions and thoughts or they can plumment horribly and thud into the ground, like bricks falling from a workman’s scaffold, creating the most awful mess!
Arrrrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!
Here, on this blog, on any blog, the words are both the solution and the problem. How to use them? Which ones to use? Do I write about this or that? Share this bit or that bit? If writing about that bit then “how?” In what way? Get the idea?
Let’s break it down a little; use those words to illustrate:
Here I am in Dallas, sitting in my room (which needs desperately to be neatened, dusted, and cleaned up). Over in one corner is a shirt and a pair of pants that need to be thrown into the laundry hamper which is itself overflowing. On my futon are my pillows from last night, and the sheets from last night which really should have been neatly folded and put into the closet for the day, but weren’t. The futon is still in it’s “inclined” night-time sleeping position instead of being moved to it’s upright “day-time” couch position.
Right next to my desk I have a stack of three boxes and a stack of two boxes. These boxes are detritus from my storage unit which I’m slowly working through: sorting, selling on CraigsList, tossing in the trash OR giving away the enclosed “junk” and “stuff” to the local resale shop which benefits the LGBT community called “Out of the Closet.” Watch for the return of my “online garage sale” as I work my way through that pile and the much larger pile-o-clutter that I need to get OUT of my house!
I have a half finished diet soda on my desk (which I really swore I would not be drinking any more of… …I should be switching to green tea instead). My desk is as cluttered as my mind. Lots of stuff left in mid project, bits of this and bits of that.
Yer basic slice-o-Tony’s Life in fifty words or less…
About those words…
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I’m re-reading the Dresden Files (as part of my “new year plan”)
So, what does “reading a SciFi/Fantasy” series have to do with the price of tea in China?
Well, nothing actually. But it does have something to do with my whole “Transform Tony in 2013” plan.
Here’s the VERY brief outline of the plan. Trust me, I can be brief when I need to and today, I need to because I’ve got a LOT of things on the “to do list”
But, Uhmmm.. I digress… back to that outline of “The Plan.”
Here is the deal, I recognize that to achieve my goals for this year (more detail on that later) that I have to do a little bit every day/week:
- Get plenty of sleep every night
- Stretch daily
- Lift (3 x a week)
- Cardio (3 x a week)
- Diet (in the sense of eating right, not in the sense of starving myself)
- Dance (overlaps with cardio but not always — also overlaps with lifting, but not always)
- Be “domestic” (e.g. laundry, dust, balance Quicken, pay bills, ride herd on the clutter, etc)
- Be “entrepreneurial” (e.g. add designs to my online t-shirt/button/bag shop on Zazzle, write articles on Squidoo, promote and advertise my Line Dance Instruction business, etc)
- Socialize and/or Relax
So, where does the “reading SciFi” fit into all this? Well, friends and neighbors, I’m about to go all Zen on you.
There has to be balance!
To maintain a healthy “me” there has to be some socialization and relaxation built into the picture. It can’t all be “work, work, plan, plan, plan, work, work, work toward the goal” Ya just gotta cut loose and relax some too!
So, as part of my ‘getting ready for bed” routine I do some reading.
Ah-HA! cry the teeming masses of the eight people actually reading my blog!
The light dawns. The sun rises and understanding and clarity reigns throughout the land! Woot!
And the SciFi series I’m re-reading is The Dresden Files / by Jim Butcher. Ok, so I’ve read this series of books before. And I have this “rule” that I only keep books around if I’ve read them at least four times. And since this is the fourth? fifth? sixth? time I’ve read this series I’m going to keep the books around this time so the next time I want to read them I won’t have to go scrounging around to find them all.
If you’re into SciFi, or Fantasy, or you’re into Detective Noir books then this series has got your name written all over it. It is about this nice guy who happens to be Wizard, and a Private Investigator and who sometimes gets himself into trouble. Uhmmm. Did I say “sometimes”? That’s like saying the Mississippi has a little bit of water in it. LOL
Anyway, the books are a very fast read. Lots of fun. Entertaining, enjoyable and full of action. They have characters which develop and grow, not only within each book, but over the span of the entire series. Which means that you really do need to read them in order.
The first one, which I finished last night, is called “Storm Front” Here is what it says about the book on the author’s website:
Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he’s the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things — and most of them don’t play well with humans. That’s where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a — well, whatever.
There’s just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry’s seeing dollar signs. But where there’s black magic, there’s a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry’s name. And that’s when things start to get… interesting.
Magic. It can get a guy killed.
Now, that I’ve finished book one, I’m going to have to head to Half-Price Books today and try to find Books 2 & 3 in the series. *sigh*
That is after I go to the dance studio this morning and before I go practice with my awesome dance partner and then go to the wonderful West Coast Swing Class tonight.
See ya on the dance floor!
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TMI Tidbit #2: What happens in the bathroom, Stays in the bathroom. Usually.
I can’t bear to watch!
Everybody does it.
Everybody knows that everybody does it.
It’s part of being human.
We don’t talk about it though.
At least, not in polite company.
But when we are with our friends and there is beer involved, then, the truth comes out….
…
…we all dance in the bathroom!
If you just got this mental image of ball gowns, feather boas, rhinestones and bugle beads, that would be bathroom of the drag queen who lives across the courtyard from me. She is a special case, as is her bathroom. Nope–I’m talking about the rest us, with garden variety “basic” “average” bathrooms. Although I must confess that my bathroom not quite “basic” nor “average” as it is tastefully decorated with a lovely “cats and books” theme done in browns, reds and rich wood tones.
Ahem. But I digress. 😉
Back to dancing in the bathroom.
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What is “Health”?
Health = Your body and mind operating smoothly.
There, we’re done. Hope you enjoyed the post.
What? Do I hear grumbling from the masses? Do I hear the stirrings of an “Occupy the Blog-o-sphere Movement?
Ok, ok, since you insist, I’ll elaborate; you guys should know by now that it doesn’t take much to get me to expand on any topic. LOL @ myself. 🙂
Let’s “Google” it!
So, what does “health” mean? I did a Google search for health and got this:
Over a billion hits. That is “Billion” with a “B!” — Aha! A chance to use my Librarian skills! Woo Hoo!
Take note: When doing a keyword search, adding more words in the search box, or the addition of suffixes, means fewer hits. So, let’s add a “y” and do a search for healthy:
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 