Tagged: puttingwordstogether

05
Feb
2022

IS IT IN MY HEAD?

I find it hard to reconcile the images of characters I have in my head when reading books with the actor’s portrayal of them onscreen. I tend to keep them separate in some ways, thinking of my own imagined view of them as “MY” characters, and the movie or TV version of them as “OURS”…since that version belongs to everyone who watches the film or the show. The character in my head that I see when I read a book is mine alone. Sometimes they are both “right”, but more often, it’s jarring to see a character I’ve brought to...

20
Aug
2021

LEARNING TO USE A SLINGSHOT

I have to concentrate on the good things in my daily life, in order to combat all the awful things in the world that I can’t do anything about. Or at least not anything substantial. Recycling and donating to humanitarian causes seems to pale in the face of all the misery and hardship out there. I have only skimmed the news for years now, reading headlines and limiting my exposure, because I buckle under the weight of it and I’m PRIVILEGED. I live a cushy, easy life. I live in the first of first world countries. I can’t, in any...

11
Aug
2021

EXPRESSING YOUR ESSENTIAL NATURE

There are so many ways to define yourself. How do you do it? Is it your socio-economic grouping (lower-class, middle-class, upper-middle-class)? Is it your age range, as defined by so many questionnaires and surveys (Under 12 years old, 12-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, 75 years or older)? Is it your ethnicity (White, Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, Native American or American Indian, Asian / Pacific Islander, Other)? Is it the generational decade you were born into (baby boomer, gen x, millennial, gen z)? Is it your marital status? Your level of education? Your employment status? Your...

06
Jun
2021

SORRY NOT SORRY

Don’t apologize. You don’t have to say you’re sorry for not writing. Don’t think people are checking in every day to see if you’ve bothered to write (and thereby entertain them). No one is waiting on the sidelines for your words, your thoughts, your random scribblings. You just write when the muse strikes. When the timing and the motivation line up and the stars align as well. When Mercury isn’t in retrograde (Mercury’s always in retrograde) (Don’t worry about stupid Mercury, it has no bearing on this). It’s not an assignment. There’s no deadline. There are so many moments when...

24
Apr
2021

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

About a week ago, I started a post with this sentence: Man, it’s *crickets* around here. It never even occurred to me how very specific that particular phrase is. To English-speakers, of a certain age, and a certain kind. And also how recent its use is. yourdictionary.com gives this definition: (US slang, humorous or derisive) Absolute silence; no communication. Derived from the cinematic metaphor of chirping crickets at night, signaling (otherwise) complete quiet. May be used alone or in metaphorically descriptive phrases. Merriam-Webster has a whole page in their “Words we’re watching” site dedicated to it…because it’s a word that...

22
Mar
2021

RESPOND BEFORE REACTING, THINK BEFORE ACTING

I was just realizing that I have only been sick once in over a year. I searched through my posts and the only thing I’ve had since 2019 was a head cold in June last year. Staying away from people sure cuts down on your sick days. All that hand-washing and social distancing really DOES work on cutting down disease…and not just corona. Although I confess, sometimes it would be nice to have an excuse to stay in bed and call in sick. Ha! I wonder if these habits will stick with us. I dunno…yesterday, Karin and I ran to...

18
Jan
2021

TOP OF MIND

It’s pretty amazing what our brains can do. I’ve been thinking a lot about memory lately. I’ve read a lot about the brain, but I don’t really know all that much, technically speaking. I am just really glad that it can keep so much straight! So many important details that we have constant and instant access to: personal info, contact info, memories. Just the fact that we have so much information on tap inside our heads at all times, without even the help of Google, is mind-blowing (ha!). On top of the important things we need to remember and keep...

13
Nov
2020

STICKING TO MY LANGUAGE GUNS

I often feel I spend too much of my time at work talking people out of stupid and unnecessary requests. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don’t, but it’s always an exasperating process. We’re so busy and slammed with work so much of the time that having someone request something useless or idiotic is crazy-making. People in my team joke about “Liz says no” and “Marcom says no” as standard responses to such requests. We don’t have time for wasting. We have handled more jobs/requests/tickets this year so far than we handled all of last year and there’s still a month...

10
Nov
2020

SOLITARY THOUGHTS

I think the pandemic is bringing out my antisocial tendencies. Maybe I was born to be a hermit and this is just exacerbating my proclivity. How many 4-syllable words am I allowed to use before you smite me? Hee. We are on our third week of working solely from home, and I’ve kind of resigned myself to being alone all the time now. At least I get to read my book at lunch and go out on the porch when I need a break. I was thinking maybe I could turn my monitor screen around so that I can watch...

14
Jun
2020

SSSH

No one knows how to just listen anymore. Every conversation, at least ones that I am often part of, seems to turn into a sort of subtle one-upmanship. I don’t think people do it on purpose. I certainly don’t do it on purpose. But I find myself doing it too, and it bothers me, both when I do it, and when people do it to me. The fact that they do it unconsciously bothers me, too. It’s as though no one is actually listening to anything you talk about except in the context of how it applies to them and...